Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has officially announced plans to return 787,619 out-of-school children to school.
In his address during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement organised for the 2025 enrolment drive campaign, the State Chairman of SUBEB, Mr Babaji Babadidi, explained that the campaign aimed to sensitise stakeholders and the general public on the importance of collaboration in creating an enabling environment that would accelerate the return of out-of-school children to school.
According to him, data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank have shown that there are 13.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, with 787,619 from Gombe State alone.
“Gombe plans to reduce this number to 50 per cent by 2030. The current situation calls for active collaboration among stakeholders to act with urgency in addressing this issue. This programme is an accelerated initiative geared towards reducing the number of out-of-school children. One of the major factors contributing to children being out of school is the limited sensitisation and awareness campaigns. These challenges have prompted UBEC and SUBEB to embark on a holistic approach to address the issue decisively,” Babadidi said.
He revealed that each Local Government Area (LGA) has been given a target to enrol no fewer than 10,000 pupils for the 2025/2026 academic year, making a total of 110,000 pupils across the state.
