Minister: We’ve enrolled 2m out-of-school children in Arabic literacy programmes

Tahir Mamman, minister of education, says two million out-of-school children have been enrolled in basic and Arabic literacy programmes.

 Mamman spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the citizens’ and stakeholders’ engagement on Nigerian education sector ministerial deliverables.

He said the stakeholders’ engagement was critical to providing opportunities for ministries to achieve the 2027 renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

“To deliver on the mandate of the president, there is a need to engage with stakeholders to provide opportunities to critically examine the progress in the implementation of 23 ministerial deliverables,” NAN quoted the minister as saying.

“It is one of the major focus of this administration to reduce the numbers of out-of-school children. While the commission set up to reduce this number, the problem of out-of-school is still ongoing.

“What we reported is the outcome from other agencies of the ministry that are doing their own part to ensure the problem is addressed.”

He added that the government has designed guidelines and training schedules for inclusive basic learning, noting that the step has improved access and enrolment of children in schools.

Commenting on the recent abduction of students of the University of Calabar, the minister said the government is working with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to fence the institution.

Also speaking, Yusuf Sununu, minister of state for education, said the ministry has adopted technology to enhance learning, skills acquisition and teachers’ competence.

“We quite believe that there is a need for a strong team approach in addressing the numerous challenges confronting our education sector,” Sununu said.

“Education being a tool for individual, community, country and global development cannot be treated in isolation.

“It was in realisation of this that the International Labor Organisation classified education as an exportable commodity. By extension, therefore, the need for both local and international collaboration becomes a necessity.”