The Federal Government has unveiled transformative reforms aimed at ensuring every Nigerian child gains access to quality education, as part of a renewed push to tackle the persistent Almajiri and out-of-school children challenge.
Balarabe Kakale, Special Adviser to the Minister of Education on Almajiri and Out-of-School Children, disclosed this on Monday in Kaduna during a National Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
He said the Ministry of Education has introduced policies designed to strengthen coordination between federal and state agencies operating within the education and non-formal learning subsectors.
The reforms, he explained, rest on five pillars: foundational literacy, numeracy, vocational and technical education, digital education, and civic education.
“Proper implementation by states will ensure that no Nigerian child is left without access to education,” Mr Kakale said.
He urged states to domesticate the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education Act, alongside policies on non-state schools, alternative pathways, and the Accelerated Basic Education Programme, to reflect local realities.
Mr Kakale commended Kaduna State for its reforms under the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSK) project, describing the state as a model for national scale-up.
He said the Federal Government was advancing data sovereignty through the Nigerian Education Data Infrastructure and other digital management systems to capture every child, school, teacher, and infrastructure gap.
“We no longer depend on third-party estimates,” he stated. “We will track children from enrolment through retention and academic progress.”
The Special Adviser called on North-West states to embrace federal policies and digital data initiatives, expressing optimism that coordinated implementation would help Nigeria become a leading African nation in education.
Commission Charts 10-Year Strategic Plan
Representing the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education, Malam Halliru Musa Halliru said the commission had developed a 10-year strategic plan (2025–2035) for sustainable interventions.
He noted that the National Policy on Enhancement of Almajiri Education sought to strengthen traditional systems through literacy, numeracy, vocational training, and quality assurance, while preserving religious and cultural values.
Mr Halliru revealed that some 200 Almajiri learners at the Tinubu Legacy Skills Training Institute in Kaduna had received Arabic, English, vocational and practical skills training, and had excelled in examinations conducted by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
He said 119 learning centres had been established nationwide, and over 700,000 out-of-school children had been mapped for targeted interventions. Comprehensive data on Tsangaya centres was also being collected to improve planning and quality assurance.
The commission, he added, had established offices in all states and the Federal Capital Territory to strengthen collaboration and monitoring.
Kaduna Commits to Holistic Approach
Prof. Abubakar Sambo, Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, said poverty remained a major driver of school dropouts, particularly in rural and peri-urban communities. He noted that some parents continued to send very young children to Almajirai—a growing challenge in northern states.
He called on participants to study federal policies carefully and develop implementation strategies across states and local governments, stressing that accurate data was critical to successful planning.
Ezra Angai, Coordinator of the Kaduna ROOSK project, said the state had adopted a holistic approach to returning children to learning.
He disclosed that the project aimed to return 100,000 out-of-school children through formal schools and alternative pathways, and had already mapped 187,912 children across 23 local government areas.
“Over 25,000 children have been returned to learning,” Mr Angai said. “We have distributed more than 40,000 teaching and learning materials, uniforms, textbooks and psychosocial support, and provided assistive devices to over 2,000 children with disabilities across nine local government areas.”
He said the project had signed memoranda of understanding with 25 Tsangaya centres, reaching 6,326 learners, with plans to engage 50 more. Infrastructure interventions would cover 272 schools, including 102 new schools, with six Tsangaya benefiting in the first phase.
Development partners, including the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait Fund, UNICEF, Save the Children International, Education Above All, and the Global Partnership for Education, are supporting the initiative.
Stakeholders Pledge Sustained Action
The engagement brought together government agencies, traditional rulers, Islamic scholars, Alarammas, Tsangaya proprietors, civil society organisations, and development partners.
Participants called for stronger collaboration, improved data collection, and community mobilisation to ensure vulnerable children returned to learning.
They pledged continued support for reforms integrating Almajiri education with broader opportunities, and stressed the need to move beyond policy formulation to practical interventions that improve access, retention, and learning outcomes.
(NAN)