FG Emphasizes Education for Northwest Street Children

By BANNERNEWS Reporter
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to educating street children across Northwest Nigeria, with the enrollment of no fewer than 10,000 out-of-school children already underway, beginning from Kano State.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (Northwest), Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, disclosed this during the first day of school resumption at Kawaji Primary School in Kano.
Yakasai said the initiative forms part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope education agenda, aimed at reintegrating street children and school dropouts into formal education.
According to him, the programme targets children who had never attended school as well as those who had dropped out, popularly known as Almajirai.
“During the break, we identified about 200 children in this neighbourhood alone. Today, they have been enrolled and provided with uniforms, school bags and exercise books,” Yakasai said.
He added that the intervention also extends to teachers, noting that educators in the selected schools were supplied with teaching materials such as notebooks, chalk and cardboard papers to enhance effective classroom delivery.
Yakasai explained that the programme would be expanded across Kano, with three schools targeted in each district in the next academic term.
“We are committed to ensuring that at least 10,000 out-of-school children across the Northwest are enrolled before the end of President Tinubu’s administration,” he said.
He also drew attention to the poor state of public school infrastructure in the region, revealing that engineers had inspected dilapidated structures and prepared bills of quantities for rehabilitation.
“Many public schools are in urgent need of repairs. We intend to take these findings to the Presidency to ensure the schools are restored to standard,” Yakasai added.