The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Nigeria has unveiled a comprehensive three-year reintegration plan spanning 2025 to 2028 to tackle the persistent challenge of out-of-school children across the country.
Aisha Garba, the executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Nigeria, disclosed that the initiative aims to bring thousands of children back into the classroom by addressing barriers to education and strengthening community-based support systems, signaling a renewed commitment to inclusive and equitable learning for all.
Garba, speaking during a two-day retreat held in Kano, emphasised that the commission has set a three-year target to reintegrate 10 million out-of-school children back to school, which amounts to reducing the menace by 70 percent between 2025 and 2028
“The main objective of this retreat is for us to spend two days together with UBEC and SUBEB staff all across the headquarters, zonal and state offices to take stock of what we have done so far in the last six months since assumed office and then also to look at the key priorities that we need to deliver in the next six months or next one year.
“Also, one of the key objectives is for us to work together as a team to foster that teamwork as well as collaboration with the national and state level governments to ensure that our key priorities align and we deliver basic education for the betterment of the child so this is the key objectives why we are here,” she said.
In addition, Garba said, “My top agenda is to reform the Universal Basic Education Commission in line with the hope renewed agenda of the presidency as well as the ministerial agenda by the minister to ensure that we achieve the mandate of universal basic education which is 100 percent access to education, reduce the number of out of school, improve the quality of education.”
Razaq Akinyemi, the deputy executive secretary, technical, speaking at the retreat, revealed that the commission has taken crucial steps to improve teaching and learning quality through initiatives such as the teacher professional development (TPD) programme, expanded access to basic education by improving school infrastructure across the country.
Akinyemi reiterated that the commission has worked closely with State Universal Education Boards (SUBEB) and constructed over 3,700 classrooms, established 34 model and SMART schools, provided over 142,000 units of furniture, and positively impacted over 181,000 learners.
Kabir Yusuf, the executive secretary of the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), in his address at the retreat, applauded UBEC for choosing to host its retreat in Kano State.
Yusuf also applauded the state government for giving precedence to the education sector and initiated several interventions to improve the quality of education in the state, including free distribution of school uniforms, learning materials, constructing new classrooms, and renovations.
He said the government has also approved the release of N39 million for the training of 400 quality assurance officers, N35 million for school-based training, N5 million for the mobilisation, and encouraging the nomadic communities to enrol their children in schools.(BusinessDay)
