The Federal Government says more than one million out-of-school children have returned to classrooms over the past 20 months as part of efforts to improve access to education across the country.
Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, disclosed this in Abuja while receiving the newly appointed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Country Representative to Nigeria, Professor Isaiah Barreto Da Rosa.
Alausa said the achievement was part of the government’s broader education reform agenda, but acknowledged that significant challenges remained in ensuring quality and inclusive education.
He also disclosed that almost 6.7 million girls had benefited from government interventions aimed at improving school enrolment and retention. However, the minister warned against allowing boys to become overlooked as attention remains focused on girl-child education.
“We must ensure that no child is left behind. While we continue to make progress in girl-child education, we must also pay attention to the educational needs of boys,” he said.
The minister identified six areas as central to the government’s education transformation programme: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), reintegration of out-of-school children, data and digitalisation, girl-child education and quality assurance.
He said the government was investing heavily in skills development, technology and teacher training, with education data increasingly being used to identify gaps, direct interventions and measure results.
Alausa particularly welcomed UNESCO’s technical assistance to the ministry’s accelerated teacher professional programme, which is targeting one million in-service teachers.
He also urged UNESCO to align its interventions with existing government programmes, citing the organisation’s support in TVET assessment, digital transformation, peace education and media and information literacy.
Earlier, Da Rosa reaffirmed UNESCO’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s education reforms, describing the organisation as a technical partner prepared to provide expertise in areas identified by the government.
He noted that UNESCO had maintained a presence in Nigeria since the 1960s, with programmescovering TVET, teacher development, peace education, science, culture, communication and information.
Da Rosa disclosed that UNESCO-backed initiatives had trained more than 28,000 teachers across various states and reached over 1.7 million students. He also expressed readiness to expand cooperation on teacher capacity development, TVET and the reintegration of children currently outside the school system.
Alausa said stronger collaboration would be necessary to turn policy initiatives into measurable improvements in learning outcomes.
He assured UNESCO that the Federal Government would continue to mobilise domestic resources while leveraging international partnerships to expand educational access and equip Nigerian children and young people with the skills required for national development.
