Nasarawa moves to return out-of-school children to classroom
The Nasarawa State Government has intensified efforts to return out-of-school children to the classroom as part of its drive to strengthen basic education across the state.
Executive Chairman of the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB), Dr. Kassim Mohammad Kassim, disclosed this during a news briefing in Lafia on Tuesday.
He said the Board had procured seven new mini-buses to facilitate sensitisation campaigns across the 13 local government areas aimed at encouraging parents and guardians to send their children back to school.
According to him, the state government is committed to ensuring that all children enrol, remain, and complete basic education under its compulsory basic education policy.
“Our statistics show that we have a high number of out-of-school children in the state, and the Board’s desire is to make education compulsory and free for every child in Nasarawa State. Section 6 of our law makes it mandatory that education must be free and compulsory for all children,” he said.
Dr. Kassim revealed that steps have been taken to address manpower gaps in the primary education sector, noting that arrangements were underway to recruit additional teachers.
He added that 1,900 qualified teachers who had previously moved to local government administrative offices had been redeployed back to classrooms, with plans to return another 1,000.
He stressed that primary education in the state would be repositioned under his leadership to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
He also disclosed that some teachers had been suspended for various forms of indiscipline, including truancy and diversion of school property.
On infrastructure, the NSUBEB chairman said the Board had revoked nine contracts due to substandard execution and project abandonment, warning that his administration would not compromise standards in its quest to deliver quality basic education to schoolchildren across the state.
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