With an estimated number of over 500,000 out of school children in Kaduna, the government of the state has threatened to jail parents who fail to enrol their children or wards to school.
According to the latest Universal Basic Education Personnel Audit of the state, out of the 2,425,560 children between the ages of 6 – 11years, an estimated number of 524,670 of them are out of school.
UBEC stated that there are only 21,984 public classrooms available to primary school children in the state.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, Phoebe Yayi, the Permanent Secretary of the state’s Ministry of Education said Parents are likely to serve jail term if they do not send their children to school.
Yayi who was appointed by Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai in August 2019, quoted the Child Welfare and Protection Law of 2018 as a basis for the government’s decision.
“You should be aware that the Child Welfare and Protection Law, 2018, section 18 (6), stipulates that any parent or guardian who fails to send his or her child to school commits an offence,” she quoted.
She noted that in order to have an easy access to education, the government of the state declared education in the state free from primary to secondary school.
“Therefore, parents have no excuse not to send their children to school, as the government has taken off all financial burden from parents,” she added.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94