The Gombe State government has warned parents that failure to enrol their children in schools could result in a two-month jail term or substantial fines. 
 
The Executive Secretary of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Babaji Babadidi, gave the warning yesterday during the flag-off ceremony of the 2025/2026 enrolment drive campaign in Akko Local Council Area of the state organised by the state government through the SUBEB in collaboration with Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 
 
He said the enrolment drive campaign was aimed at bringing at least 400,000 children into schools across the state, adding that the initiative was in view of the number of out-of-school children in the state. 
 According to him, the programme would not be successful without parents’ cooperation, threatening that those who refuse to comply with the policy would be punished in line with Section 19 of the SUBEB Amendment Law 2021, which mandates parents to ensure their children complete primary and secondary education.
 
The Commissioner for Education, Aishatu Maigari, expressed concern over the alarming number of out-of-school children in the state, estimated at over 700,000 out of the four million state’s population. 

She emphasised that the government’s substantial investment in education would be wasted if parents fail to take advantage of the free education programme.