The Minister of Education, Tunde Alausa while speaking with the senate committee on tertiary institutions and TETFund on Thursday, called for more funds to be allocated to the Almajiri system of education to tackle the out-of-school children crisis in the country.
Alausa, who assumed office following a significant cabinet reshuffle, criticized the alarming rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
He said: “We have up to 20 million out-of-school children. I met with the executive secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-school Children who said that the 20 million was even under-quoted,” he said.
“It is about 40 million to 50 million. This is a danger that can consume everybody. We have to make these schools work.”
Alausa said there is a lot of infrastructural decay in Nigerian public schools.
“Former President Goodluck Jonathan built about 137 Almajiri schools during his tenure. But today, it is sad that only a few of these schools are operational.”
Speaking further, Alausa said the children will be encouraged to stay in school through a sustainable feeding programme.
“We will design the nutrition. We will ensure that the children get good nutrition which will translate into better brain development and enable us to develop human capital,” he said.