On Wednesday last week, the Senate advocated for the prosecution of parents who fail to send their children to school in line with the Universal Basic Education Act. They called for the establishment of mobile courts to try such parents and guardians. This is to reduce the 20 million load of Out-of-School-Children, OSC, which Nigeria is burdened with.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Educational Fund, UNICEF, Nigeria has the highest number of OSC in the world, with one out of every five OSC child in the world a Nigerian. The Muhammadu Buhari administration blew hot several times over this shameful statistic but left with the number increasing from 12 million to over 20 million.
In December 2023, UNICEF (Nigeria) broke the figures down, indicating that 10.2 million children who should be in primary schools are wandering the streets while the number for the Junior Secondary School, JSS, is over 8.1m. The Basic Education Act championed by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration mandates every Nigerian child to attain nine years of continuous basic education (primary and JSS).
The Senate’s call for the prosecution of negligent parents does not quite address the issue. It is a typical fire-fighting approach, a knee-jerk reaction to problems which is typical of the current crop of people leading this country.
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Parental negligence can be traced to two factors. The first is parents’ inability to send their children to school. This is where poverty weighs in. The second is refusal to do so. Refusal could be as a result of certain cultural factors. In some parts of the country, Western education is still strongly resisted, especially by the ignorant poor.
In the North, for instance, the Al Majiri Islamic system of education is considered adequate by the grassroots elements but the upper classes send their children to proper schools. Boys are mortgaged to Koranic teachers who send them out for begging, while the girls are sent to hawk and soon married off. In the South where the syndrome is much less, the OSC victims hawk goods or serve as house helps.
To solve this problem holistically, the Basic Education Act must be implemented to the letter. This scheme lifts the financial burden off the parents, and discounts poverty as a factor incubating the OSC syndrome in Nigeria. Parents and guardians who refuse to send their children to school because of the desire to exploit them for child labour should be prosecuted.
Governors who refuse to finance the UBE scheme should also be prosecuted when they leave office for ruining the futures of our children. The National Orientation Agency, NOA, and its state counterparts should sensitise the people about the danger of refusing to educate their children and wards.
To educate our children is a task that must be done.
[VANGARD]
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