The National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education will soon establish offices across the southern region with the view to mopping up out-of-school children back to school.

Its executive secretary, Dr Sani Idris, made the disclosure on Monday at the opening of a three-day summit in Lagos.

The summit, National Basic Education in Nigeria Bootcamp (BEN-B), was organised by the federal ministry of education (FME).

It had the theme: ‘Improving Access to Inclusive Quality Education for all Children in Nigeria: Addressing the Challenges of Out-of-School Children’.

Mr Idris said: “We are now in the process of planning. We have tested a pilot programme and it has yielded the expected results.

“This is a one-year-old commission, and for you to achieve success in what you are aspiring for, you will have a very good plan,“ he said.

He said that attempts had been made to address the Almajiri and out-of-school syndromes.

He said, however, that some of the efforts made had not yielded the expected results.

“We have called for a very serious stakeholder engagement.

“We brought across all the critical stakeholders, Almajiri, and their scholars and sat for a critical meeting.

“Also, within five days, we were able to come up with ideas that have the capacity to address this problem.

“So far, so good;  we have got the roadmap and the buy-in of the scholars; very soon, we are going on serious house-to-house advocacy,“ he said.

According to him, the commission brought in marshals who went around the municipalities in Abuja to mop up out-of-school children.

“Last week, we had the cause to hand over 22,000 out-of-school children mopped from Abuja alone to the FCT Education Administration for possible enrolment in school.

“I want to assure you that before the end of next year, we will see to the fact that about two to three million out-of-school children will, as well, have the cause to go back to classes,” Mr Idris said.

Earlier, the minister of education, Dr Maruf Alausa, said Universal Basic Education for every child of school age was key to ensuring unfettered access to nine years of formal basic education.

The minister was represented by director, basic education, FME, Dr Folake Olatunji-David.

“The future of Nigeria lies in the hands of our children, and education is the bedrock upon which we build that future.

“It is our duty to provide them with not just education, but education of quality and relevance – one that equips them to thrive in a rapidly evolving world,” he said.

He said that the meeting provided an opportunity to share best practices, address implementation gaps and forge partnerships to strengthen the education system.

He urged participants to be open to new ideas, receptive to constructive criticism, and unwavering in commitment to effecting a positive change.

“Together, we have the power to transform education in Nigeria.

“Together, we can empower our children to become leaders, innovators, and visionaries of tomorrow,” Mr Alausa said.

Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that improving access to inclusive and quality education for all children in Nigeria required a multi-faceted approach.

Mr Sanwo-Olu was represented by Lagos state commissioner for basic and secondary education, Jamie Alli-Balogun.

He also said that such education demanded that the country should address the root causes of poverty and inequality.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said that the state had come up with various strategies to combat out-of-school syndrome.

“These are through aggressive enrolment drives,“ he said.

The director of basic education at FME, Dr Folake Olatunji-David, said that in recent years, basic education has enjoyed the support of key stakeholders in the education sector.

Mrs Olatunji-David was represented by the deputy director, basic education, FME, Joy Onoja.

According to her, President Bola Tinubu’s June 12 declaration on enforcement of free and compulsory basic education for the first nine years of schooling provided huge support.

“This has attracted a lot of players to the sub-sector, and several interventions are ongoing to address issues of equity efficiency and learning outcomes,“ she said.

Mrs Olatunji-David, however, said that in spite of the efforts, key challenges still existed.

According to her, these include insufficient classrooms, low levels of learning outcomes and low enrolments.

“Also, in some cases,  there are high enrolments that may overcrowd classrooms,” she said, adding that inefficient utilisation of resources was a challenge.

(NAN)