Out-of-school children: fears over rising child labour

By Akon Etumukwa

Nigeria’s burden of out-of-school children is spiraling into deeper crisis as a growing population of children is actively engaged in farm work, hawking and other adult-related jobs during school hours.

Fears that the development could hinder effective implementation of the country’s educational policies aimed at enrolling the children in formal schools are rife, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to persuade them or their wards about school enrollment.

Further compounded by economic problems and the suspicion over western education in some northern parts of the country, parents, guardians and employers are embracing this emerging trend at an alarming rate especially in predominantly farming communities.

In 2014, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) initiated a cash transfer programme in some states in the north to make up for the “economic loss” of pulling children away from farm work and businesses to school.

The project which had over 23,000 beneficiaries, was implemented in Sokoto and Niger states in collaboration with the UK Department for International Development, and is now being sustained by the states to incentivize parents for their children to be enrolled in schools.

While several other states require such intervention, the sustained practice of having large number of out-of-school children engaging in child labour around high-brow areas of Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Bauchi or any affected state, further calls for worry as it portends negative implications for security and peace.

Obviously, the use of children during school hours for paid employment, business or farm work violates the rights of a child as enunciated in Articles 28 and 29 of the UN convention on Child’s Rights which was domesticated by Nigeria as the “Child Rights Act” in 2003.

Recall that the International Labour Organisation, ILO, Conventions No. 182 and 138 on worst forms of child labour and the minimum age for admission to employment and work, which Nigeria ratified in 2002 pegged the minimum age requirement at 15 years.

But Abdulahi Umar, a 7-year old boy in Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State was denied his right to education. Umar desired to be in school, but he lost the chance when his father ferried him from Katsina state to Kano where he lives as an Amajiri along his friend Ahmadu Abubakar.

Daily, Umar and Abubakar visit at the gate of Tofa Model School with rubber bowls in hand asking for alms. Although he had the desire to go to school, his father refused to give him the opportunity. Both he and Abubakar have no ambition to acquire formal education anymore.

His 19-year old Islamic teacher, Abdulahi Adamu, owns a farm where he engages them for work some times. Umar’s struggles represent the experience of over 11.5 million children across the country.

According to UNICEF, MICS data shows that of the 11.5 million children out of school in Nigeria, 7.9 million or 69 per cent are in the northern states, whilenortheast has the largest number of out of school children followed by the northwest.

A UNICEF Education Specialist, Mrs. Azuka Menkiti, who reeled out the statistics recently at a Media Dialogue in Kano, said “with this number, Nigeria accounts for more than one in five out-of-school children globally, and 45 per cent of out-of-school children in West Africa.

Back in 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, estimated that 10.5 million children in Nigeria were out of school. Six years after, all indices used to measure the out-of-school children population point to an increase, despite efforts by the Nigerian Government and international development partners to reintegrate them into the formal school system.

But how did Nigeria leave millions of her children out of school? Menkiti could not rule out the failure of government policies in properly addressing educational matters before they reach crisis level, as she noted that “in Nigeria, weak political will exists to fully and effectively implement the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004 and other education policies, for example the laws prohibiting the withdraw of girls from school for marriage.”

She further cited “poor learning outcomes complicated by the uncommitted, absent teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and poor learning environments which makes many parents and guardians to see schooling as a waste of time as their children are not learning – even to read and there is no link to livelihoods and the desired improvement in the lives of their children.”

Menkiti also refer to low budgetary allocations, release and utilization as well as threat to security and perceived incompatibility of formal (‘Western’) education with Islamic education as problems.

She called on all tiers of government to increase their budgetary allocation to education and ensure full utilization of funds to the sector, while noting that evidence shows investing in education and addressing inequalities would result in sustained growth.

Speaking on what UNICEF is doing to address the challenge, she said the fund is building partnerships and networks with relevant institutions and groups, adding it recognizes the importance of collective actions and responsibilities in tackling the problem.

“We identify core resources and tap into them to achieve best results. We work with Government agencies at national, state and local government levels. We work with non-state actors- Traditional Leaders, Local community structures

She said the fund is also influencing policies, strengthening capacity and systems as well as delivering service and carrying out advocacy.

An Education Consultant, Dr. Dayo Ogundimu, in a presentation at the Media Dialogue, described the standard of education in the country and the percentage of out-of-school children as an issue of urgent national importance which must be addressed.

Ogundimu said the issue has deprived a lot of brilliant children the opportunity of attending school to become more relevant to the society.

He attributed the problem of access and inequitable education to poverty, ignorance, culture, religion, poor governance, corruption, government policies and lack of the political will.

In addressing the challenge, he advocated the adoption of an “ecological model” which divides human/community asset mapping factors into four namely: Individual, household or interpersonal level, organizational/formal relationships, Community and Societal levels.

He said “The Social Ecological Model shows that there is a complex grounding and social interplay between an individual, the social-economic relationships in which he operates (organizations, including schools); his community as well as the socio-cultural milieu in which he must subsist.

“The model thus prescribes that in order to generate an effective solution to particular human problem, it is important to address the factors that put people at risk of experiencing such problem.”

Also speaking, UNICEF’s Chief of Communication, Eliana Drakopoulos, said beginning from 2018, UNICEF is giving life to a local campaign ‘Every Child in School’ to advocate for better and wider access to basic education in Nigeria.

Drakopoulos said “Millions of children are not learning the skills they need to fully participate in the economy, to advocate for themselves and to improve their lives. The current situation lowers the potential of not only individual children but of the society as a whole.”