Nigeria now accounts for a staggering 18.3 million out-of-school children, the highest figure globally, with the Northwest states of Jigawa, Kano, and Katsina contributing nearly 30 percent of that total.

At a two-day media dialogue in Kano, UNICEF education consultant Aisha Abdullahi warned that without an urgent shift toward Early Childhood Care, Development, and Education , the country’s educational crisis will continue to deepen.

The crisis in the Northwest is being fueled by a volatile mix of poverty, insecurity, and deep-seated cultural barriers. Abdullahi noted that children in these regions often lack “school readiness,” leading to high dropout rates early in their academic journey.

“Early childhood education is not just a preparatory stage but a strategic intervention to reduce the number of out-of-school children,” Abdullahi stated.

Why Age 0–5 is the “Critical Window”
Citing research that shows 90 percent of brain development occurs before the age of five, UNICEF argued that Nigeria’s current interventions are often “too little, too late.”

The agency highlighted several key benefits of investing in early learning:

Enrolment Boost: Communities with functional early learning centres see up to a 40 percent increase in Primary One enrolment.

Reduced Dropouts: Children with early cognitive and social training are twice as likely to complete their schooling compared to those who start without it.

Protecting Girls: Early exposure to the classroom helps delay social pressures like early marriage and strengthens the bond between mothers and the educational system.

A significant hurdle identified during the dialogue was the low level of paternal involvement. Stakeholders revealed that less than 15 percent of fathers in the region are actively involved in their children’s early learning.

Experts believe that increasing male participation could slash dropout rates by 50 percent, as fathers typically hold the decision-making power regarding household finances and school attendance. The forum recommended using mosque engagements and community advocacy to bring more men into the fold.

A Call for 5% Budget Allocation
Despite the Universal Basic Education framework theoretically including one year of pre-primary education, practical access in rural Nigeria remains dismal.

To bridge this gap, participants and UNICEF experts called for:

Budgetary Reform: Allocating at least 5 percent of the education budget specifically to early learning.

Infrastructure Expansion: Integrating ECCDE centres into every existing primary school.

System Integration: Merging traditional and religious education systems with modern early learning standards to increase community buy-in.

The consensus was clear: Strengthening the foundation of learning is the only sustainable way to move 18.3 million children off the streets and into the classroom. (NAN)