The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decried the number of out-of-school girls in the country, saying that over 60 per cent of 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are girls. The UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Dr. Tushar Rane, said this at a media dialogue on girls’ education, under the ‘Girls’ Education Project 3 (GEP 3) funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK recently.
He said that the education of the girl child is critical to transforming communities, reducing inequalities, and strengthening economies, while also noting that when the girl child is educated, child marriage and child mortality rates reduce. “As the UN agency for children, UNICEF collaborates with the government, partners and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to help children survive, thrive and attain their full potentials, and the media plays a very important role as a critical ally in helping UNICEF fulfil this mandate,” he added.
“Despite the benefits of educating the girl child, over 10 million children in Nigeria — 60 per cent of whom are girls — are out of school. The situation with girls’ education has been worsened by attacks on schools which have made learning environment insecure and discouraged parents and caregivers from sending their wards, particularly girls, to schools.”
