The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund has said that the growing number of children out of school is an indication that Nigeria’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals is poor and the country stands the risk of having an illiterate population in the future.
It said that meeting the Millennium Goal of Education for all was a big challenge for the nation, if the number of children out of school were used as indices.
The Chief of A Field office UNICEF, Enugu, Ms. Pelucy Ntambireweki, who said this on Monday observed that many children who enroll fail to complete school, adding that the country has only five years to meet the finishing line of fulfilling the goals.
She explained that if the leaders were serious about preparing a bright future for the country, quality education for children must be a priority as spelt out under the millennium goals.
Ntambireweki said, “We have only five years remaining now for the country to meet the finishing line of fulfilling all the MDGs, to which they committed themselves a few years ago. Without evidence, I cannot judge government now how far they have gone and I think a comprehensive report has to be done on what government has achieved as far as MDGs are concerned. But given the job that we are doing, we still see many children out of school.
“We still see many children not completing school. This is a big challenge that all states have to tackle headlong because if you don’t deal with education, you stand the risk of having an illiterate population in future.”
By Adelani Adepegba
Source: PUNCH Newspapers
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