Out-of-school children: Addressing a persistent social crisis

The report said progress in keeping children in school has slowed in almost all regions since 2015, with a sharp slowdown in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly due to population growth.

“Several crises, including conflicts, have also hindered progress; more than one in six children live in conflict-affected areas, representing millions more children out of school beyond those captured in the statistics.

“This reality is particularly urgent today in the Middle East, where ongoing regional tensions have forced many schools to close, leaving millions of children out of classrooms and at greater risk of falling behind,” UNESCO said.

UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany described the situation as alarming, saying the report indicates that more and more young people are deprived of education globally.

“This report confirms an alarming trend, with more and more young people being deprived of education around the world every year.

“Yet there is hope: since 2000, enrollments in primary and secondary education have increased by 30% overall, and many countries are making significant progress.

“UNESCO remains fully mobilized to work with governments and partners to expand learning opportunities for all in ways that respond to local realities and give every learner a fair chance to build their future,” he said.

The report, however, was quick to say that many countries are making significant progress in reducing school dropout rates, some up 80 percent since 2000.

Chronicles from other climes

For example, while Madagascar and Togo reduced rates among children, Morocco and Vietnam did so among adolescents.

Additionally, Georgia and Turkey have reduced dropout rates among young people, just as Côte d’Ivoire halved dropout rates in all three age groups over the same period.

The report highlights the importance of national context in setting goals and designing policies and programs to address the challenge.

Observers say the irony of the dropout statistics is that 1.4 billion students are enrolled in school in 2024, an increase in global enrollment of 327 million or (30%) in primary and secondary education since 2000.

GEM report director Manos Antoninis said progress in reducing dropout rates should be assessed against national and global contexts.

“Progress is not one-size-fits-all because context is often overlooked. National goals must be ambitious and rooted in what is truly achievable.

“The global goals should therefore be the sum of these commitments, and not the other way around,” he said.

The Nigerian situation

Closer to home, of the estimated 98 million out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is responsible for around 20 million, which is the highest number in the world.

According to an article published by the Nigeria Health Watch, Nigeria’s high rate is driven by a combination of population growth, extreme poverty, insecurity, socio-cultural norms and infrastructure deficiencies.

Dr Segun Borode, a child development expert, said conflict and poverty are the main factors driving the school dropout rate in Nigeria.

“Of course, just like many other social crises, there is often a combination of factors responsible for increasing or decreasing cases.

“However, the biggest challenges we face in terms of factors leading to the number of children out of school are insecurity and poverty.

“If you look carefully at the annual report, you find that the situation is not equally distributed at the national level, just as it is not equally distributed at the global level.

“The North East and North West geopolitical zones account for over 60% of Nigeria’s out-of-school population.

“States like Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara often rank first (over 60%) when it comes to children out of school. In contrast, Imo, Anambra, Ekiti, Lagos, Abia have the lowest cases, most less than 6%.

“If you put these same states into the matrix of poverty and insecurity, you would find that the indices are similar,” he said.

Borode added, however, that poor infrastructure, poor teacher pay, grossly inadequate funding of education and cultural issues such as gender discrimination significantly contribute to the crisis.

He said that in addition to government at all levels addressing insecurity and reducing poverty, education should be incentivized to make both teaching and learning enjoyable.

He noted that the 2026 GEM report highlighted an increase in enrollment, while dropout rates also continue to increase.

“It means we won’t keep those children in school after we put them in school; that’s why we need to make sure that parents, teachers and students see learning as a shared desire.

“Parents should be willing and able to entrust their children to both teachers and the system, while teachers should be sufficiently motivated to fulfill their role.

“Students should not be burdened with anything other than enjoying learning in an atmosphere conducive enough to make them want to return,” he said.

An anonymous vision

A public school teacher, who preferred to be called Ngozi, said that despite major problems of insecurity, poverty and beliefs persist; The school feeding program implemented by the government has had a positive effect in reducing the school dropout rate.

“During my youth service, I taught in a primary school where the school feeding program was implemented. Enrollment increased because parents were relieved of the burden of providing lunch for their children.

“Also, the children were anxiously waiting for lunch so as not to miss school. I don’t know what happened to the program,” he said.