A fee of as little as 80 Naira, according to Maryam Uwais, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Investments, is to blame for some kids not attending school.
Uwais, who remarked during a Channels Television interview, attributed the rising number of youngsters not attending school to the country’s population.
According to recent data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, there are 20 million unschooled children in Nigeria.
According to statistics, between the ages of 6 and 18, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan have the most percentage of out-of-school children worldwide.
According to Uwais, a N80 levy was the reason some kids in Northern Nigeria weren’t attending school.
Uwais explained that some children were out of school in Northern Nigeria because of an N80 levy.
She added that state governments must stand up to their responsibilities in reducing the number of out-of-school children.
She said: “We have a population that is growing faster than our economy, and we are not targeting those issues that are increasing the numbers. There are so many differences. We need to determine the reason for these numbers. We need to be more strategic in ways to solve the problem.
“So it is essential to monitor the situation, to get the causation factor being given as feedback. We are under the National Bureau of Statistics; they can analyse the trends and address the issue.
“I will give you an example; I was in one State, I won’t tell you the State, but it is a northern state, I saw 13 children playing, and I asked them, ‘Why aren’t you in school? They gave different things, and they all had aspirations as young children. They said they aren’t in school because of N80 as Parent Levy or something like that.
“Now, if we can use such information coming from all communities or that being the most prevalent issue for out-of-school children, it can be tackled at the state government level because these are hidden levies that impact the ability to go to school.”
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