453,602 Zamfara Out-of-School Children Set For Enrolment

The Universal Basic Education (UBEC) in Zamfara State has launched a 2026 campaign to increase enrolment of out-of-school children, noting that 95.3% of the children live in rural areas.

During the kick-off event yesterday at the JNI Model Primary School in Gusau, Prof. Nasiru Garba Anka, the executive chairman of the Zamfara State Universal Basic Education Board (ZSUBEB), emphasised that their focus was shifting from merely collecting statistics to taking meaningful action.

“The challenge of out-of-school children is not peculiar to Zamfara State. It is a national challenge,” he said.

According to him, UNICEF has reported that Nigeria has millions of out-of-school children, including about 10.2 million at primary level and 8.1 million at junior secondary level.

“Our responsibility today is to focus on our children in Zamfara State and, most importantly, to move from statistics to action.

“Through the out-of-school children registration and mapping exercise supported by UNICEF and implemented with ZSUBEB and other stakeholders, we have been able to identify 453,602 out-of-school children records across the 14 LGEAs for the 2024-2025 period.”

Anka said of the identified figure, 95.3% are residing in rural communities, while 21,283 children, representing 4.7% are located in local government headquarters towns classified as urban areas.

“This figure demonstrates the importance of the partnership between ZSUBEB, UBEC, UNICEF, LGEAS, communities and other education stakeholders.

“Our task now is clear, we must move from identification to enrolment, from enrolment to retention, and from retention to meaningful learning.”

He maintained that the mobilisation drive would involve all stakeholders, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders, and organisations in the state.