{
  "id": 18282846,
  "title": "UBEC partners traditional rulers to tackle out-of-school crisis",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/ubec-partners-traditional-rulers-to-tackle-out-of-school-crisis-18282846",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-05T09:44:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/ubec-partners-traditional-rulers-to-tackle-out-of-school-crisis/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has partnered with traditional rulers and religious leaders to address the issue of out-of-school children in Nigeria. The goal of the partnership is to leverage the influence of these community leaders to identify children not attending school and ensure their enrollment across the country. This initiative will involve community-level monitoring of pupils' attendance, retention, and completion to prevent dropouts.\n\nThe Memorandum of Understanding between UBEC and the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development outlines the roles of traditional and religious institutions in strengthening community participation in basic education, particularly in underserved communities. They will establish national, state, and local coordinating committees to drive education advocacy and grassroots mobilization. Traditional and religious leaders will also encourage parents and guardians to prioritize their children's education.\n\nThe partnership will develop and distribute advocacy materials in Hausa, Fulfulde, and Yoruba, identify out-of-school children at the household level, and facilitate their enrollment in nearby schools. The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Aisha Garba, emphasized the importance of involving community leaders in tackling the out-of-school crisis, given their influence on household decisions and community values.\n\nThe initiative will pay particular attention to girls, whose access to education is often hindered by social and cultural barriers. The success of the partnership will be measured by increased school enrolment, improved attendance and retention, stronger learning outcomes, and a reduction in the number of out-of-school children.\n\nThis partnership comes amid Nigeria's persistent basic education crisis, with millions of school-age children still out of the formal education system. According to UNICEF's 2025 Nigeria Annual Report, there are 10.2 million out-of-school children, with the highest numbers in the North-West (45%) and North-East (28%) regions. These figures are influenced by insecurity, poverty, displacement, and inadequate access to functional schools.\n\nSince May 2026, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has reported that the federal government has returned over one million children to classrooms within 30 months through various interventions. These include the Back2School Drive and an interactive out-of-school children dashboard to identify affected children, support their enrolment, and improve intervention targeting. However, UNICEF reports that only 70% of Nigerian children and young people aged three to 24 attended school in 2025, with attendance rates lower in rural communities (51%) compared to urban areas (75%).\n\nUBEC, working with the Federal Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards, has facilitated the construction of more than 4,900 classrooms and renovated existing school facilities nationwide. The commission has also provided water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, benefiting over 2.3 million learners by the end of 2025. Additionally, UBEC has implemented community-driven school improvement programs and teacher professional development initiatives to strengthen school management and improve teaching and learning outcomes.",
  "summary": "The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has partnered with traditional and religious leaders to address Nigeria's out-of-school children crisis. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development, the commission aims to leverage the influence of these leaders to identify children not attending school and facilitate their enrollment nationwide.\n\nAccording to Punch, the initiative includes community-level monitoring of pupil attendance, retention, and completion to prevent dropouts. Traditional and religious institutions will be mobilized to strengthen community participation in basic education, specifically targeting underserved areas facing poverty, cultural barriers, and other social challenges.\n\nThe partnership involves establishing national, state, and local coordinating committees to manage education advocacy and grassroots mobilization. These leaders are expected to encourage parents and guardians to prioritize education, while the agreement also provides for the development and distribution of advocacy materials in Hausa, Fulfulde, and Yoruba.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}