A non-governmental organisation, Elsophi Global Development, EGD, has re-enrolled 35 out-of-school children in Toge community, Abuja, into the formal school system, as part of efforts to return children who have dropped out of school to formal education.
Elsophi kicked off the intervention in a brief handover ceremony at the LEA Primary School in Toge, Airport Road, on Tuesday, attended by parents, guardians, school teachers and some community members.
The intervention, which is carried out under the NGO’s school access project, is aimed at returning children who have dropped out of school to the classroom and improving access to education in hard-to-reach communities.
Business Development and Innovation Director of Elsophi Global Development, Dr Japhet Omaye, said the organisation identified the scale of the challenge after engaging children in the community during a Children’s Day programme in May.
Omaye said a subsequent education needs assessment, covering 50 households, identified more than 150 school-age children who were not attending school.
“From the pool of over 150 of them, we prioritised 50. We started doing private resource mobilisation, talking to people we know to donate. We also reached other organisations that were willing to partner with us to put resources to support the children,” he said.
According to him, 35 children have so far been successfully re-enrolled, with Elsophi Global Development providing school uniforms, sportswear and learning materials to facilitate their return to school.
Omaye said the assessment indicated that more than 60 per cent of children in the community were out of school, although he noted that the figure could be further verified through an expanded survey.
He said the organisation was also concerned about older children who could not easily return to the conventional primary school system because of their age.
“We even met a young man who is 21 who dropped from school in primary four but is willing to get back into school,” he said.
“Because of their age, we are not able to put them into the primary school system. We also have a plan to establish a community learning centre where we can run a bridge programme for those older ones and then connect them back to a formal learning system.”
Omaye also called on the government to partner with non-governmental organisations and community stakeholders to address barriers keeping children out of school.
He said the NGOcould not address the challenge alone and urged the government to work with the organisation to ensure that more children in the community gain access to education.
“We don’t have all of the solutions. We have come into the community, identified the situation and some of the barriers. We are calling on the government. We are ready to partner with the government to see what can be done to help these children get into school and be able to learn,” he said.
Reacting to the gesture, the Village Head of Toge, Dakachi, Auta Bastuba, commended the organisation for the initiative, saying the intervention would help improve access to education in the community.
He, however, expressed concern over the state of education in the area, citing inadequate teachers and facilities as some of the factors discouraging parents from sending their children to school.
Bastuba called on the government to increase its efforts towards ensuring that children attend school and provide the necessary facilities for a conducive learning environment.
Two beneficiaries, 17-year old Hafsat Ali, and her 15-year old sister, Faisat Ali, thanked the NGO for the opportunity to return to school.
“I want to say thank you for bringing us back to school. I’m feeling happy. When I was not coming to school, I felt bad because I was not coming to school,” Faisat said.
Both sisters said they hoped to become tailors in the future.
