By Abubakar Yaro,Kebbi.<\/p>\n
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development to mobilise traditional institutions, religious leaders, parents and community stakeholders towards tackling Nigeria’s growing out-of-school children challenge.<\/p>\n
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Argungu, Kebbi State, is designed to strengthen grassroots participation in basic education and improve school enrolment, attendance and retention across the country.<\/p>\n
The initiative, known as the Advancing Basic Education Partnership Programme (AGE), seeks to leverage the influence of traditional rulers and religious institutions to encourage parents and communities to prioritise formal education, particularly for girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n
The agreement was signed by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, on behalf of the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development, while UBEC’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Abdulrazaq Akinyemi, signed on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Dr. Aisha Garba.<\/p>\n
The partnership aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and reflects efforts to address barriers preventing millions of Nigerian children from accessing basic education.<\/p>\n
Under the arrangement, both organisations will collaborate to identify out-of-school children, intensify community sensitisation, promote school enrolment and strengthen mechanisms for monitoring attendance and retention.<\/p>\n
A major component of the programme is the integration of Qur’anic and non-formal education pathways into broader basic education strategies, with a view to creating opportunities for children whose educational experiences have largely remained outside the conventional school system.<\/p>\n
The initiative will also encourage traditional rulers, religious leaders and community stakeholders to engage parents on the importance of educating their children and ensuring that enrolled pupils remain in school.<\/p>\n
As part of efforts to address the economic challenges confronting vulnerable households, UBEC is also implementing interventions that include the provision of educational materials and scholarship opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n
The measures are intended to reduce the financial and social barriers that often prevent children from enrolling in or completing basic education.<\/p>\n
The programme will commence with pilot implementation in Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto and Osun States, with plans for possible expansion to other parts of the country following an assessment of its implementation and impact.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the significance of the partnership, the organisations emphasised the importance of collective responsibility in addressing the out-of-school children crisis, noting that government interventions alone cannot achieve sustainable results without the active participation of parents, communities and traditional institutions.<\/p>\n
The involvement of the Sultan Foundation is expected to strengthen community ownership of the initiative, particularly through the traditional and religious leadership structures that play influential roles in shaping public attitudes towards education.<\/p>\n
The partnership comes amid continuing national concerns over the number of Nigerian children who are either out of school or unable to complete basic education, with girls and children in vulnerable communities facing additional challenges.<\/p>\n
For UBEC, the collaboration represents an effort to move beyond policy commitments by taking education advocacy directly to households and communities where decisions about children’s schooling are made.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the success of the initiative will depend on effective coordination, sustained community engagement and measurable improvements in school enrolment, attendance and retention.<\/p>\n
The partnership reinforces the principle that educating Nigerian children is not the responsibility of government alone, but a shared obligation involving traditional institutions, religious leaders, parents and the wider society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Abubakar Yaro,Kebbi. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development to mobilise traditional institutions, religious leaders, parents and community stakeholders towards tackling Nigeria’s growing out-of-school children challenge. The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Argungu, Kebbi State, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19493,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19478\/revisions\/19493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}