The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has commenced a massive campaign to enrol 145,000 out-of-school children for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The board’s Acting Director, Social Mobilisation, Ibrahim Aminu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Kaduna on Wednesday, that the campaign targets all categories of out-of-school children.

Mr Aminu said the board had earlier mobilised 2,000 education stakeholders as influencers, who would sensitise and mobilise parents to send their children to school.

He added that the campaign, under the World Bank assisted Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), aimed to enrol 727,764 out-of-school children in the state in the next five years.

“We have trained the 2,000 enrollment influencers, and they have begun community-based house-to-house sensitisation campaign on Monday with huge success so far recorded.

“If every school community will enroll at least 35 out-of-school children in the 4,260 primary schools in the state, we will achieve the 145,000 target.

“Already, we are recording more than 100 pupils enrollment in most schools,” Mr Aminu said.

NAN correspondent who monitored the enrollment campaign at Sultan Bello Primary School, Kaduna, witnessed mass turnout of parents to enroll their children in school.

A seven-year old, Dauda Nuhu. was visibly elated after being enroled into primary one.

“I am so happy that I have been enrolled in school today; I am looking forward to learning with my friends in school,” Mr Nuhu told NAN.

Another pupil, Yusuf Suleiman, told NAN that he was in primary five when he dropped out of school after his father had an accident and fractured his leg.

“Three of my brothers and I dropped out of school following the accident and have been staying at home for the past one year, until a group of people came and talked to my father.

“They convinced him to take us back to school and I am so happy that we are all back in school,” Suleiman said.

The Team Leader of the enrolment mobilisers in Kaduna North Local Government Area, Theresa Wakili, told NAN that so far, they had influenced the enrollment of more than 778 pupils in two days.

READ ALSO: UBEC to spend N2.7 billion on 2,505 primary schools across Nigeria

“We have so far mobilised and sensitised parents in communities around 20 primary schools and recorded over 778 enrollment in just two days,” Mrs Wakili said.

NAN reports that to improve learning outcomes of pupils in primary one, the board has equally begun training of 6,828 Primary I teachers on effective teaching.

The board’s Acting Director, School Inspection and Monitoring, Habib Alhassan, said the teachers were being trained on using Hausa language in teaching pupils to read and write.

Mr Alhassan explained that the Result Area One of the BESDA programme focused on increasing access to equitable and quality education for the 727,764 out-of-school children in the state.

“The Result Area Two will then ensure that after the successful enrollment of the out-of-school children, the teachers are well equipped to teach the children how to read, write and manipulate numbers and figures,” he said.

(NAN)