Plans are underway in the Bauchi State House of Assembly to pass a bill that would establish a strategy to reduce the prevalence of out-of-school children in the region.
Dr. Nasiru Ahmed Ala, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education, made this announcement during a two-day Regional Stakeholders Engagement Meeting focused on Out-of-School Children and the Retention, Transition, and Completion Models in Bauchi, Gombe, and Adamawa states. The event took place at the Emerald Hotel Hall in Gombe, Gombe State, on Thursday.
Representing the Madara/Chinede constituency in the State Assembly, Ala expressed alarm at the substantial number of out-of-school children in Bauchi, estimated to be around 1.2 million.
He stressed the pressing need to tackle this issue and highlighted the collaborative endeavors of lawmakers from Adamawa and Gombe States in adopting the National Framework of Action within their territories.
During the workshop, Dr. Tushar Rane, the Chief of the Field Office at UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, reaffirmed the organization’s dedication to addressing the high out-of-school children rate and poor learning outcomes, specifically in the northern regions of Nigeria.
Rane underscored the workshop’s significance in presenting models that can assist states in combatting the out-of-school children crisis, improving community engagement and accountability, leveraging innovations and technologies to enhance educational accessibility, and securing funding for initiatives aimed at reducing the number of out-of-school children in Bauchi.