The West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF), has called on the Federal Government to take actions to reduce the number of out of school children.
WACSOF, created by the ECOWAS, is the umbrella network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from the 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). WACSOF is a Civil Society membership organisation, which is a privileged partner and advisor to ECOWAS and many institutions of which Nigeria is a strong member.
A statement signed by Lady Rose Onyeukwu-Ashinze, education thematic lead, WACSOG on behalf of the national coordinator says ‘UNESCO has drawn to our notice that there are 244 million children and youth between the ages of 6 and 18yrs worldwide (who) are still out of school of which Nigeria now has about 20 million out-of-school children. This is according to the latest global data on out-of-school children by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)”.
“WACSOF joins our voices to ask the Nigerian Government to Please rise up to this situation”.
It is well known that since February 14th 2022, The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), had been on strike which has NO end in view!! As at today, ASUP, the Union of Polytechnic lecturers, has commenced a strike action. It is also known that there is NO public school registration for the WAEC examination in Sokoto and Zamfara States, and some candidates in some South-East States cannot participate in the UMTE examinations due to the sit-at-home orders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). These are a few of the developments negatively affecting the education sector.
They decried the impasse created by the lingering ASUU strike and insecurity issues in some states.
“The inability of our policymakers to creatively address this epic rot and negligence of the sector today to our bleak future is worrisome to WACSOF and education stakeholders”.
“We call on the government to address the degeneration in all aspects of education and skills acquisition in the country.
No Nation can develop beyond the education of her citizen”.
According to Lady Onyeukwu-Ashinze,the products of this haphazard education system will be required to compete in the global market place for scarce global resources.
“It is also worrisome to us that the education sector crisis has been made worse by the intractable insecurity in various parts of Nigeria, the girl child educational inequity, and poverty that has denied access to quality education by majority of Nigerians. There is a need to get all hands on deck to Foster confidence by all stakeholders in the education system”.
She said “it is high time the government call for an emergency in the sector and call stakeholders to a honest and Frank dialogue on the state of education in Nigeria.
STOP THE DISRUPTIONS TO THE EDUCATION SECTOR, INCREASE BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS TO THE SECTOR AND RETURN NIGERIAN CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS BACK TO SCHOOL”.
