The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) says the rate of Out-of-school children in Katsina State has reduced from 36.9 per cent to 35.5 per cent in the last eight years.

Rahma Farah, UNICEF’s Chief of Kano Field Office, made this known during a Media Dialogue organised in Katsina by UNICEF in collaboration with the Katsina Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.

Ms Farah said the success was due to collaboration between the state government, UNICEF, and other partners.

“The number of out-of-school children has been high, with 536,122 children, but it is progressively reducing over the last eight years from 36.9 per cent in 2016 to 35.5 per cent in 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).

“It has been projected that the rate will reduce to 30 per cent by 2024 if commitments to education and investments are sustained by the government.

“Primary school completion rate in Katsina state averages 62.5 per cent compared to the national average of 73.1 per cent, and 56.1 per cent for the northwest respectively.

“Senior Secondary School Completion rates are low, with only 32 per cent of children enrolled completing their education MICS 2021,” he said.

Mr Farah pointed out that it was important to note that Katsina has a positive gender parity index of one at the primary level, meaning there are nearly equal numbers of girls and boys in primary school, and the transition rates can be more encouraging.

According to him, the transition rate to secondary school in Katsina state stands at 69.5 per cent lower than the national average of 84 per cent and the northwest average of 70 per cent, with fewer girls transitioning to secondary school than boys.

“Only 9.2 per cent and 13.3 per cent of children in grade 3 were able to demonstrate reading and numeracy skills respectively in Katsina state compared to the national average of 26.8 and 25.3 in reading and numeracy skills respectively.

“To mitigate against the declining state of education in terms of access, participation, and quality of learning outcomes, UNICEF and partners supported the state and governments in the North-west to reprioritise investments in education.

”This has resulted in increased financing to education, increased the number of newly recruited teachers, provided over 100,000 social cash transfers to keep children from the poorest families in school, and also enrolled over 123,575 learners, boys and girls, on the Nigeria Learning Passport platform in the last two year.

“It also led to the creation of 500 community learning hubs in 10 frontline Local Government Areas, engaged radio stations to broadcast radio learning programmes and provision of solar radios and memory sticks in support of alternative learning solutions,” he said.

Mr Farah said that UNICEF and other partners also supported the government in launching a strategy that provides equal opportunities to all children to enrol, participate, transition and complete school by children in Frontline areas.

He added that the state was supported to create an enabling environment for a second chance education for girls through Re-Entry guidelines that provide opportunities for pregnant and married girls to re-enroll and complete their education.

He said that UNICEF would like to engage the media as equal partners in education development and ensure that every parent, community, traditional and religious leader is aware of the government of Katsina and its partners’ priorities.

UNICEF distributed 2,760 radio devices to local communities affected by insecurity to ensure easy access to learning for children in the areas.