Worried by the increasing rate of out-of-school children in the country, IA-Foundation’s Founder/Chief Executive officer (CEO), Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, has applauded President Bola Tinubu for approving the commencement of the DOTS project to overhaul the education sector, increase enrolment and ensure the academic security of the nation ‘s children.
DOTS is an acronym representing Data Repository, Out-of-School Children’s Education, Teacher Training and Development, and Skill Development and Acquisition.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, made the disclosure on Friday in Shabu, a suburb of Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, while simultaneously performing the ground-breaking foundation laying ceremony of the National Examinations Council offices of Nasarawa, Abia, Sokoto, Taraba, Jigawa, Lagos and River states.
The minister narrated that the DOTS project was to tackle the paucity of coordinated, verifiable and authentic data in all aspects of the education sector in Nigeria.
Sununu further explained that the new initiative would enable the Federal Government to track progress of students, having a clear data-driven mechanism for interventions, especially concerning out-of-school children, girls and those with specific learning disabilities, among others.
He said: “Out-of-school children represent a major thematic area in the eight-point agenda of President Bola Tinubu, with priority focus on social welfare, health and education.
“The President is of the belief that the over 20 million out-of-school children we have now represents a group we must pay attention to, otherwise miscreants can use them to cause and foment trouble in Nigeria.
Adeagbo shared Tinubu’s optimism that for Nigeria to develop and continue to take its rightful position in the comity of nations, the over 20 million citizens must be returned to school and ensure that they get proper education and the necessary skills to make them self-efficient and relevant in the society.
IA-Foundation is a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) set up five years ago in the United Kingdom (UK) and Nigeria to help reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
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