President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Education to develop a comprehensive plan to re-enroll over 20 million out-of-school children in the country.
This directive was revealed by the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Tanko Sununu, during a groundbreaking ceremony for the National Examinations Council (NECO) offices in Nasarawa State, on Friday.
To achieve this goal, the Ministry is leveraging the DOTS project, which focuses on four key areas: “Data repository, Out-of-school children education, Teacher training and development, and Skill development and acquisition.”
According to the Minister, the initiative will enable the federal government to have a data-driven mechanism for interventions on fundamental issues relating to out-of-school children and other matters.
The project will also provide statistics on schools, enrollment, retention, and progression rates from kindergarten to university level.
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“Out-of-school children represents a major thematic area in the eight points’ agenda of President Bola Tinubu, with priority focus on social welfare, health and education.
“Mr. President is of the believe that the over 20million out-of-school children we have now, represents a group of Nigerians that we have to pay attention to, otherwise miscreants can use them to cause and foment trouble in Nigeria.
“The president also believes that for Nigeria to develop and continue to take its rightful position in the comity of nations, those group of over 20million citizens must be returned back to school, and ensure that they get proper education and the necessary skills to make them self-efficient and relevant in the society,” he explained.
The Minister also explained that the DOTS project will enable the Federal Government to come up with adequate census of teachers, their qualifications, training support received, and emoluments amongst others for effective planning.
He further commended Governor Abdullahi Sule and his colleagues for their continuous support to the educational sector, and for supporting NECO through the enrollment of their students in examinations.
