By Adamu Yusuf
Save the Children International has described Kaduna State’s 2025/2026 Annual School Census and Out-of-School Children Mapping Exercise as a landmark achievement that provides a model for other states in Nigeria to emulate in tackling the challenge of out-of-school children.
In a remarks at the data dissemination event in Kaduna, the Country Director of Save the Children International in Nigeria, Duncan Harvey, commended the Kaduna State Government, the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) Project Management Unit and participating communities for successfully conducting the comprehensive mapping exercise.
Harvey said the exercise marks a major breakthrough by providing reliable evidence to guide education planning, budgeting and policy decisions.
According to him, the mapping exercise covered more than 360,000 households across Kaduna State’s 23 local government areas, providing a comprehensive evidence base that will support the ROOSC Project’s target of returning 100,000 out-of-school children to the classroom.
“The findings revealed that 60.2 per cent of identified out-of-school children had never enrolled in school, while 39.8 per cent had dropped out. Children between the ages of six and eleven years accounted for 64.6 per cent of the total, with poverty, inadequate financial resources, teacher shortages, poor school quality, long distances to schools, insecurity, disability, child labour and harmful social norms identified as the major barriers to education” He said.
Harvey called on the Kaduna State Government to translate the findings of the mapping exercise into fully funded, time-bound implementation plans at the state, local government and ward levels, supported by qualified teachers, safe learning environments and inclusive education policies.
Representing Governor Uba Sani, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to ensuring that every child has access to quality education, describing education as both a policy priority and a moral obligation.
Presenting key findings of the survey, she disclosed that 187,719 children in Kaduna State remain out of school, with nearly 65 per cent of them between the ages of six and eleven years, indicating that the greatest challenge lies at the point of school enrolment.
“91 per cent of affected households identified poverty as the major reason children remain out of school, underscoring the need for sustained social protection measures, including school feeding programmes, free learning materials and targeted support for vulnerable families” She said.
The Deputy Governor stated that when the present administration assumed office, Kaduna State had well over 500,000 out-of-school children, adding that the figure has now dropped to 187,719, reflecting the impact of deliberate policy reforms, sustained investment and effective implementation.
“Education received the highest allocation in the 2026 Kaduna State Budget, accounting for 25 per cent of the total appropriation, a move that has enabled the government to sustain free basic education, reduce tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions and increase tertiary enrolment by more than 200 per cent.” She explained.
Also speaking, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Dr. Gerida Birukila, commended the Kaduna State Government for successfully conducting the digitised school census, describing it as a major milestone that will strengthen evidence-based planning and improve education outcomes across the state.
She urged government and development partners to translate the findings into concrete action, stressing that reliable data must be used to improve access to quality education and ensure that no child is left behind.
Dr. Birukila also called for greater attention to inclusive education, urging stakeholders to prioritise children with disabilities through early identification, vision screening and other interventions that can significantly improve school attendance, learning outcomes and retention.
She reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting Kaduna State and its partners in translating the findings of the school census and mapping exercise into practical interventions that will guarantee every child access to quality education.
