ACF slams Northern leaders over rise in out-of-school children

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Wednesday said the menace of out-of-school children would continue in Northern Nigeria until those entrusted with governance and responsibility refrain from playing the ostrich game.

Chairman, ACF Board of Trustees, Bashir Dalhatu, made the declaration at the opening of the Kano State Education Recovery Conference held in Kano.

Dalhatu regretted that children who ought to be in school continued to roam around without basic education in the North because “those that can afford to take care of the situation are the highest producers of children”.

The former Minister of Power and Steel lamented the falling standard of education in the North due to long-time neglect of public education and vocational training.

Dalhatu stressed that had the government not failed in repositioning the education system, the region would not have found itself in the precarious situation it is battling to navigate.

He applauded Kano State governor Abba Kabir Yusuf for taking a bold step to declare a state of emergency in the education system and urged other Northern governors to follow suit in rescuing the ailing sector.

Yusuf revealed that he inherited a near collapse of the education system with dilapidated classroom blocks, a worrisome trend leaving thousands of pupils sitting on bare floors and under trees to receive lessons.

He emphasized the intention of the national education recovery conference was invoked to reposition and navigate a path to education excellence which necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency in the sector.

Yusuf said his administration has voted for about 30 percent budgetary allocation for education in the 2024 fiscal year.

The governor said his administration has spent over N4 billion for the rehabilitation and construction of new classrooms.

He appealed for collaboration of development partners, and Federal Government to restore hope in the education sector.

The post ACF slams Northern leaders over rise in out-of-school children appeared first on Guardian Nigeria News.