The Kaduna government says it will train 8,700 School-Based Management Committee members to improve basic education.

Mubarak Muhammad, acting executive chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, disclosed this at the opening of a six-day training of 92 social mobilisation officers on Monday.

The training is supported by UNICEF in collaboration with the Kaduna government and the Reaching Out-of-School-Children project, among other development partners.

The 92 SMOs cut across the state’s 23 LGAs and would serve as master trainers who would cascade the training to SBMCs across the LGAs.

Mr Muhammad explained that the training, part of the ROOSC project, aimed to equip the officials with the necessary skills to bridge the gap between the government and communities.

He added that the training would cover school leadership, communication skills and resource mobilisation.

“The officials will be equipped to mobilise resources and support for schools, ultimately improving education outcomes in Kaduna state,” he said.

Mr Muhammad also said it would focus on mobilising children back to school and addressing the out-of-school children phenomenon in Kaduna.

He stated that Governor Uba Sani’s administration has been working to reduce the number of out-of-school children, and the training was expected to impact the basic education subsector significantly.

The KADSUBEB acting boss restated the Kaduna government’s commitment to building the capacity of its citizens and ensuring a brighter future for its young people.

The UNICEF education officer in Kaduna, Bala Dada, lamented that the state was facing a significant out-of-school children crisis.

“According to a 2022 KDBS survey, 768,000 children of basic school age are currently not in formal education. The ROOSC project by the Kaduna state government and partners aims to reintegrate at least 200,000 of these children back into school,” he said.

Mr Dada stated that through collaboration, UNICEF and other partners leveraged community structures and government support to tackle the root causes of children being out of school.

This, according to him, could be poverty, insecurity or lack of awareness.

He contended that the SBMCs remained the most powerful community structures for ensuring school enrolment, retention, transition, and effective management of primary education.

(NAN)