Nigeria has more than 10 million out of school children, with the majority of them concentrated in the northern part of the country.
Taraba State is one of seventeen states in the country benefiting from the Better Education Service Delivery For All, a world bank assisted project, to have out of school children return to school.
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From attacks on schools and abduction of students by insurgents, to internal displacement due to insecurity, and cultural practices, such as the almajiri syndrome, the northern child’s right to education has continued to come under threats.
Taraba State has remained a place of refuge to thousands of persons fleeing insurgency from other Northeast states, and even refugees that escaped the anglophone crisis in Cameroon; a situation that has reflected in the high number of out of school children.
Better Education Service Delivery For All (BESDA) was launched in the state to have these out of school children return to the classroom.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education says, Taraba is one of 17 States benefiting from the world bank assisted project.
Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku said the training of teachers, employment of 3,000 new teachers, after weeding out the ghost ones, have steadily improved the education sector, which reflects the increase in the number of secondary schools from 264 to 305, as well as the better ranking for the Taraba State University, among universities in the country.
In the last 10 years, northern Nigeria, especially the Northeast has been bedevilled by insurgency and communal conflict, that has resulted to an increase in the number of out of school children.
Editor: Ameachi Anakwe
