We need robust education system to tackle problems of out-of-school school children -NGO
By Matthew Atungwu
The founder and president of the Children of Africa Leadership and Values Development Initiative (CALDEV), Mr. Bamidele Salam, has advocated for a robust national education system to address the issues facing children who are not in school.
Salam made the call in an interview with reporters on the fringes of the four-day National Children’s Leadership conference held in honor of the 2023 Universal Children’s Day in Abuja.
The conference with the theme:” Rebuilding Nigeria through investment in children’s education, welfare, and security, is meant to bring together hundreds of children from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory held from Nov. 17 to Nov. 21.
Salam added that innovations to reach the most difficult-to-reach children and adolescents with education will result from a robust national education system, which will promote early learning.
An NGO called CALDEV mentors and teaches leadership and life values to kids and teens.
According to him, there are more youngsters in Nigeria who are not attending school.
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He stated that if the problem of children who are not in school is not handled, there will be no guarantee of the welfare and security of the populace, particularly of Nigerian children, in the near future.
Salam added that the conference’s main objectives will be to uncover reasons and offer solutions for problems pertaining to the security, care, and education of Nigerian children.
“It is so unfortunate that Nigeria has the largest population of out-of-school children of primary school age and this is part of our discussions at this conference.
“We believe strongly that one of the ways through which we can tackle this problem is to raise children vanguard and children advocates who will talk to the conscience of parents and government.
“They will talk to everyone that has a duty to ensure that we gradually begin a process of reducing the number and eventually having a zero number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
“So from here, we are going to be having more children who are acting as advocates to access education for their fellow children in every part of Nigeria.
“I believe that having this number of voices everywhere on the team will help us to address this emergency,” he said.