“UNICEF Report Reveals Stark Educational Challenges in Nigeria’s North-West States”

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has raised a red flag about the severe educational challenges facing Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa states, identifying learning poverty and a high number of out-of-school children as key issues.

During a zonal media briefing held in observance of the International Day of Education, UNICEF’s Education Specialist at the Kano Field Office, Muntaka M. Mukhtar, highlighted disturbing figures from the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). According to the data, Nigeria is home to 15 percent of the world’s out-of-school children and 33 percent of those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alarmingly, nearly 27 percent of these children are concentrated in the North-West and North-East regions.

Out of the 10.2 million primary school-age children in Nigeria who are out of school, over 3 million reside in Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa states. Specifically, Kano has 1,497,766 out-of-school children, Katsina follows with 862,634, and Jigawa has 679,731.

Mukhtar painted a grim picture of the educational standards in these states, particularly highlighting the lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills. In Kano, only 1 in 10 children demonstrate basic skills, with literacy at 9.6 percent and numeracy at 11 percent. The situation in Jigawa is even more dire, where less than 1 in 10 pupils meet proficiency standards—just 2 percent for literacy and 0.8 percent for numeracy. Katsina fares slightly better with 10.8 percent literacy and 6.4 percent numeracy, but these numbers still fall far below the national averages of 26 percent for reading and 25 percent for mathematics.

Further compounding the issue is a shortage of over 378,000 teachers nationwide, with a staggering pupil-to-teacher ratio of 65:1, far above the recommended 35:1.

In response to these challenges, UNICEF has been working closely with state governments to enhance equitable access to education, focusing on reaching out-of-school children and girls. However, the organization urged state governments to take urgent action, including increasing funding for education, utilizing resources efficiently, ensuring the timely release of funds for basic education, and recruiting more qualified teachers to close the existing gaps in the education sector.

UNICEF’s call for change emphasizes the critical need for collaborative efforts to address the growing education crisis in Northern Nigeria, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive.