President Muhammadu Buhari has officially set-up an 18-member Presidential Steering Committee on Alternate School Programme (ASP) with its inauguration Tuesday.
The formal inauguration which took place at the Villa Tuesday, President Buhari tasked the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to coordinate and lead the deployment of a consistent National Plan that will address issues arising from and related with out-of-school children in Nigeria.
He said: ‘‘While we continue to sustain our efforts on providing formal and conventional education through the activities of the Universal Basic Education Commission under the Federal Ministry of Education, it is still a common sight to notice children abandoning formal school to become apprentices in shops, workshops and markets, whilst many others choose to loiter at markets, become cart pushers and hawkers.
“These are not acceptable”.Buhari implored all members of the committee to take the assignment with utmost seriousness adding that “the future of our young people is at stake”.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs who doubles as the team lead for the scheme, Umar Farouq expressed appreciation to Buhari for his support to her Ministry and for granting presidential approval for the Alternate School Programme.
She said: “Education serves as a catalyst for the all-round growth and development of any individual. Thus, for any nation to thrive, adequate investment in human capital, by increasing access to quality education, must be prioritised. The United Nations identifies quality education as one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for attaining sustainable development”.
The Minister equally expressed sadness over challenges confronting the country arising from cases of increasing statistics of out of school children which cuts across the entire gamut of the society.
She added: “Those mostly affected by this scourge include the girl-child, predominantly in the North, almajiri-children in the North, children of nomadic pastoralists spread across the country, incidence of boy child drop-out mainly in the South-East and South-South regions, street children in the South-West, commonly referred to as area boys, particularly around the Lagos axis, children of migrant fishermen in the South-South, and more recently the internally displaced children in the North-East, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency and insecurity”.
She said further: “By integrating basic education with religious education and vocational training, the Alternate School Programme will increase access to education without altering social norms and cultures. Consequently, every child, including those in the most peculiar of circumstances, will have access to learning opportunities”.
The Alternate School Programme, is said to be flexible approach to learning and skills development, which seeks to ensure that education is designed to specifically address the needs of the target beneficiaries and is delivered conveniently, without unnecessary encumbrances.
According to the scheme promoters, by targeting out of school children, the program will ensure that more children are equipped with basic literacy skills, reasoning capabilities and technical and vocational expertise that will enable them to live fulfilled lives.
They also argued that the scheme is projected ” reduce the number of out of school children in Nigeria, provide access to inclusive and equitable quality education, eliminate child labour, facilitate the effective integration of religious discipline and vocational training with basic education, provide opportunities for children to develop life supporting skills from vocational and entrepreneurship training to improve their chances of future success, improve the quality and outcome of basic education in the country and foster tolerance, unity, and integration of all children with diverse backgrounds into the larger society.”
According to the Minister, the Presidential Steering Committee has been mandated to among other things address the following: Refine the vision of the initiative,
ensure engagement and effective uptake of the ASP initiative across the country. It will also review and approve all work, implementation plan, expected deliverables, feedbacks and reports as proposed and undertake any other task that can enhance the effective delivery of the initiative by the Ministry.
Members of the team include the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as Chairman; Minister of Education, Co-Chairman; Minister of State of Education, member; Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals, Member and Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Member.
Other members are Chairman, Northern Governors’ Forum; Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC); Director General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC); National President, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) ¡.
The other members are the Representative, United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Representative, United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF); Representative, Global Partnership for Education; Chair, Private Sector Advisory Group (SDGs) -¡and Chair, Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development.
Also in the committee are Chair, Senate Committee on Basic Education; Chair, House Committee on Basic Education; Dr. Shehu Balarabe Kakale and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Bashir Nura Alkali, who is the Secretary.
