By Globally marked every January 24 since its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, the International Day of Education is set aside to promote the role of education in global peace and development. The theme for 2022 is “Changing Course, Transforming Education” which emphasizes the revival of education.
As Nigeria joins other nations of the world to celebrate International Day of Education today, the worrisome state of education in Africa’s most populous nation has once again been brought to the front burner of national discourse.
Here are five alarming statistics about the state of education in Nigeria.
1. Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. According to an analytical statistics organisation, SBMorgan Intelligence, the figure stands at 12,320,529 in 2021. The Ministry of Education, however, claimed that Nigeria currently has 6.9 million out-of-school children.
2. 51% of children engage in child labour. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), stated that about 50.8 per cent of Nigerian children — ages between 5 and 17 — are involved in child labour.
3. More than 30% of Nigeria’s population are illiterates. According to data published in the Digest of Education Statistics of the Ministry of Education, Nigeria’s national literacy rate stood at around 65.1 percent in 2018.
4. Many kids don’t complete their elementary education. According to the Education Profile Indicators (2018) published by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), only 86.81 per cent of primary school entrants complete primary school.
5. There are more male entrants in early childhood care development and education (ECCDE) and junior secondary education. According to the UBEC Education Profile Indicators (2018) data, males made up 50.1 per cent, 52 per cent, and 51.7 per cent of the enrolments in ECCDE, primary schools, and junior secondary schools.
