It has been stressed that strengthening best practices and identifying alternative pathways to improving quality and relevance of learning for Out-of-School children (OOSC) in the country is the only way to check the menace.
This was contained in a presentation by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) at a two-day Regional Stakeholders Engagement Meeting on the Out-of-School Children and the Retention, Transition and Completion Models in Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states at Emerald Hotel Hall, Gombe, Gombe State.
In mid-2022, UBEC and its corresponding State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) engaged in an internal assessment exercise of the then ongoing OOSC strategies with the aim of developing a position paper that captures learning from the past years’ implementations of different OOSC strategies.
The documentation considered what worked, what did not work, and the way forward as the findings from this assessment and learnings from other partners who have been engaged in addressing OOSC informed the design of the Framework of Action to Reduce the Number of Out of School Children in Nigeria.
As part of its contribution to the development process, UNICEF provided technical support to ensure the participatory development of the Framework of Action and contributed to its overall strategic direction in light of global trends and innovative approaches to addressing OOSC.
The Framework of Action will act as a governing document for the Government of Nigeria and its development partners in addressing OOSC over the coming years were discussed during the conference in order to prioritize and identify specific interventions to address the key barriers.
Key stakeholders from across government and civil society were identified for the conference and organized into five thematic groups to address key intervention areas.
The thematic groups included: The imperative and response of political actors in confronting the OOSC phenomenon: way forward and Community accountability in mobilizing positive response towards addressing the OOSC phenomenon.
Another is Leveraging on the technologies Innovations and ICT to increase access to learning for OOSC and Financing OOSC.
Relevance of the Framework of Action include: complementing the National Education Plan “Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan (2018-2022)” by specifically addressing the inclusion needs of OOSC.
The Framework is in line with the goals of the Education for All initiative and Sustainable Development Goal #4 aimed “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
The Framework is galvanized by the UN Transforming Education Summit 2022, which spotlights the urgency to act fast to transform education.
Vision, Rationale and Principles of the Framework of Action is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that stipulates that education is a basic human right.
The provision of access to education and protection of this right is the responsibility of the government.
Ensuring that all OOSC are in schools and learning is the main responsibility of the government, the international community, and civil society.
This Framework is grounded in upholding UBEC’s three guiding principles – Universal Access, Radical Inclusion, and Quality Learning and Teaching – with respect to OOSC.
These principles aim for every child to complete the full cycle of basic education, possessing literacy, numeracy, and basic life skills to live meaningfully in society and contribute to national development.
The overarching 2030 Agenda for out-of-school children in Nigeria commits to substantially and systematically decreasing the number of OOSC in the country by 2030, which underpins this Framework for Action.
The Overarching goal of the Framework of Action is to Decrease the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria by 2030 by XX percent.
With support of the Conference participants, UBEC expressed optimism that it shall agree on the achievable target the percentage decrease of the OOSC by 2030.
