Support out-of-school children, UNICEF official urges stakeholders

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged families, schools, and other stakeholders to support teenage girls who dropped out of school due to pregnancy issues, to complete their studies.

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Azuka Mentiki, UNICEF Education Specialist, made the call at a two-day stakeholders meeting in Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was held from Aug. 12 to Aug. 14.

The meeting was organised to address the ”Out-Of-School Children (OOSC) and model for Retention, Transition, and Completion (RTC)”, in the Southwest zone of Nigeria.

It was attended by Commissioners, Chairmen of the States Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Civil Society, and religious leaders from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, and Ondo states.

According to Mentiki, 92 per cent of adolescents in the Southwest states complete their primary schools, while only 85 per cent of them complete their studies in secondary school.

She also declared UNICEF’s support to tackle such issues.

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She said that the initiative was to create awareness and support the states to create plans and policies whereby the girls would be encouraged to pursue their future in spite of these challenges.

The UNICEF education specialist, who reiterated the body’s commitment to ensuring every child gets free access to quality education in Nigeria, said that stakeholders’ collaboration was key to achieving the common goal.

According to her, UNICEF is supporting states to identify and address the factors driving dropout rates among adolescents, especially those who mistakenly get pregnant in the zone and other parts of Nigeria.

She noted, “This does not mean that such support is to promote or encourage teenage pregnancy, but a measure to show that getting pregnant while in school is not the end of their career; they still have a future.

“UNICEF education is focused on three core areas to ensure RTC, especially for teenagers who face the risk of dropping out or not completing their education due to pregnancy while at the secondary school level.

“We are using the system to strengthen, expanding access to education, and supporting states in creating quality learning opportunities through community structures in collaboration with religious leaders.

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