Nigeria Has Most Children Out-of-School in Africa

He explained: «Almajiri-children, those of the nomadic pastoralists, boy and girl-child drop out, social miscreants, children living with disability, those of migrant fisher men and more recently, children displaced by insurgency, constitute the bulk of the affected children.»

The permanent secretary lamented that investments in education is still low, despite the significant impact of both national and international intervention in the sector.

Hussaini stressed that the country’s inability to overwhelm the devastating challenges of unemployment and insecurity is due to the poor state of its education.

«No nation can achieve economic prosperity without a sound, inclusive and functional education system. The security and stability of the country, to a large extent, depends on its ability to provide functional education to its citizens,» he said.

He said the theme of the conference «Inclusive Education Creating Quality Learning Opportunities For All» was designed to remove the barriers that prevents pupils from participating fully in education.

The permanent secretary added that inclusive education rejects special schools or classrooms that separate students with disabilities from others, as well as discriminating against their social, civil and educational rights.