Out-of-school children down to 700,000 in Borno - Governor

The Borno State government says it has reduced the out-of-school children rates from 2.2 million to 700,000, in the last five years.

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Governor Babagana Zulum stated this at the inauguration of Government Secondary School Mairi, on Tuesday in Maiduguri.

Mr Zulum, accompanied by the visiting World Bank Country Director to Nigeria, Ndiame Diop, said the development represented about a 70 per cent decrease in the out-of-school children rates in the state.

He said his administration had made substantial investments in education, which facilitated the construction of 104 new schools, the rehabilitation of 2,931 classrooms, and the distribution of millions of instructional materials to basic and post-basic schools.

“We have distributed 20 million exercise books, two million textbooks, 15 million sets of school uniforms, 700,000 school bags, and millions of other learning tools,” he said.

He said that about 50,000 pupils benefited from the school feeding programme annually, while 10,000 bicycles had been distributed to indigent students, to enhance access to education in rural areas.

The government, he said, focused on Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET), to address challenges of out-of-school youths beyond conventional schooling age.

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Mr Zulum said the government established five Vocational Enterprise Institutes, two Second-Chance Women and Girls Skills Entrepreneurship Schools, and reactivated nine Vocational Training Centres to train 5,000 artisans annually.

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Also speaking, Mr Diop lauded the state government’s commitment to rebuilding the education sector through partnerships, including the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP), Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), and Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA).

“This school is a symbol of resilience, hope and a commitment to rebuilding better after adversity,” he said.

Lawan Wakilbe, the Commissioner for Education, Innovation, Science and Technology, said the newly constructed school, which had been operating on a temporary site for nearly three decades, now has a permanent facility.

He said the state government planned to enrol 50,000 girls in schools in the next five years under the AGILE project.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Zulum also inaugurated Government Girls Junior Day Secondary School Molai and Government Day Secondary School Gala-Mairi in Jere Local Government Area of the state. (NAN)