Gombe First Lady Flags Off Free Children’s Registration in Schools

By Najib Sani, Gombe

Gombe State firstlady, Asma’u Inuwa Yahaya, on Monday flagged off free registration of children in Gombe local government area of the state into schools as part of efforts to reduce the number of out of school children in the state.

Our correspondent reports that the state has not less than 787,619 out of school children out of the four million population of the state.

Worried by the figure, the state government through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in collaboration with Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched enrolment drive campaign to reduce the number of the out of school children by 50 percent by the year 2030.

The state launched the scheme by registering children free of charge in schools in the 11 local governments of the state and providing school materials.

While flagging of the enrolment programme at Gombe local government area, the firstlady urged parents to cooperate towards the successful implementation of the programme by enrolling their children to school.

She stated that the state governor was committed to the welfare of the child in the state that includes education, healthcare and nutrition.

In his speech, the executive chairman of Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Babaji Babadidi, said the enrollment drive was designed to develop a behavioral change communication system to achieve retention, completion, and transition of out-of-school children to formal education.

According to him, each Local Government Area has been given a target of enrolling not less than 20,000 pupils, with a total target of 220,000 pupils for the 11 LGAs in the state.

The state commissioner for education, Aishatu Maigari, stated that the initiative was expected to bridge the gap in access to education and promote sustainable development in the state.

She tasked local government chairmen to ensure the retention of the children in schools until they complete secondary education.

The commissioner noted that with the launch of this enrollment drive, the state government was taking a significant step towards achieving its goal of reducing the number of out-of-school children and promoting education as a fundamental tool for development.