The Executive Chairman, Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Kabir Magaji, has lamented that a substantial number of out-of-school children in the state have their origins from the neighbouring Niger Republic.

Speaking with newsmen on Thursday, Magaji said a significant number of children often regularly move from the French-speaking nation to Katsina to seek Quranic knowledge.

He said upon completion, many of them stay behind and roam the streets begging for food or alms, with most of them not attending the four walls of a classroom.

He said though the state has indigent children who are also out of school, the additional number of children that comes into the state from the Niger Republic had led to an increase in the figure.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the state has about 36 percent or about 536,122 children being out of school, with many of them never getting any form of Western education.

Magaji, however, said efforts have been put in place to ensure that children who are out of school, get to have quality education provided for in the more the 2,900 schools across the state.

He said one of the measures being implemented to boost school enrollment for such children is through the Integrated Quranic Schools scheme.

He added that when they are enrolled, the students are given uniforms, books, and related materials by the government to encourage them to continue with their education.

He also said an additional 5,055 permanent and pensionable teachers have been recruited in the last 14 months to boost the existing 30,000 teachers in schools across the state.

The executive chairman added that several schools have been renovated, or expanded in recent months to accommodate such several children in existing primary schools in the state.

He added that 17,00O teachers have recently been trained in different capacities to meet up with the ever-changing dynamics of the teaching-learning process, for the benefit of such pupils.