THE development Research and Projects Center (dRPC) has called for the widespread adoption of community based early childhood care and development (ECCD) schools as a practical strategy to tackle Nigeria’s soaring out-of-school numbers and foster economic empowerment.

Executive Director of the dRPC and former Bayero University, Kano (BUK) lecturer, Dr Judith-Ann Walker, explained that the 2026 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report released by UNESCO shows Nigeria has made no progress since 2015 in increasing attendance for children at the ECCD level.

She made this known at stakeholders meeting themed’ Entrepreneurship As A Pathway for Economic Empowerment: Lessons Learned from the Kano State Girls-Led Community Based ECCD Schools for States with Education in Emergency,’ yesterday in Abuja.

Walker pointed that crippling transportation costs and escalating security challenges, which have forced thousands of schools to close across rural communities in states like Katsina, Zamfara, and Kebbi, are major drivers of the crisis.

According to her, “Community schools are a solution to the problem of high transportation and insecurity in schools.”

She insisted that that community-based nursery institutions are much easier and cheaper to establish than primary or secondary schools while providing a child-centred environment for play-based learning.

Detailing the dRPC’s intervention, she revealed that the NGO has run a self-funded community ECCD project in Kano and Jigawa states since 2018. The initiative initially empowered 43 young female secondary school leavers with entrepreneurship training, safeguarding skills, first-aid knowledge, and seed capital to set up learning spaces in their homes. “This project has been a success story with thousands of ECCD aged children graduating from the community based ECCD schools and enrolling into LEA primary schools,” Walker said, adding that the model has created a sustainable generation of female educators utilising play-based methods.

Corroborating the economic impact, the Lead Facilitator at BUK’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Research and Training (CERT), Professor Bala Kofarmata, noted that private sector-driven micro-enterprises remain critical to job creation and national prosperity and is a critical component of the Technical and Vocational Education Training, (TVET).

Kofarmata commended the dRPC’s entrepreneurial framework for transforming struggling young women into self-reliant educators, preventing them from falling into societal vulnerability while simultaneously addressing foundational educational gaps.