In the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. "We have come a long, long way, but we still have a long, long way to go! Education is key to sustainability in any civilization. The 2011 United
Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training; Education declares that education is the basic right of every human. Sadly,
70% of individuals who responded to the last U-reports poll on the
issue of free education are unaware that education is free for
all children in Nigeria.
Subsequently, 49% opined that since they can barely afford to pay the fees, they are unable to send their children to school. The major concerns of parents regarding education include school fee, school stationery, toilets and toiletries for girls, sanitary pads and security for boarding students.
This perhaps goes a long way to point out a pivotal reason why the level of education in Northeast Nigeria is low. The conflict in northeast Nigeria which has crippled many elementary components of the society did not leave out education. In fact, education was a major target of the conflict with the destruction of over 1,200 schools in Borno state alone and the rendering of more than 90,000 children schools homeless.
As at September 2018, the situational report suggests that the out-of-school children around the zone have reduced to 16.3%. This is commendable given that the Nigerian average for out of school children is 27.2%. Imperatively, Humanitarian response and efforts from the United Nations, UNICEF and other arms alongside International Non-Government organization as well as indigenous organizations have facilitated awareness on the need for education. Various projects such as the safe school initiatives, free education, and free pad for school girls projects, are all targetted in efforts to encourage the adoption of education.
In
retrospect, the need for education is important and so far has been emphasized through
many channels. Education is light to the mind of every child to see a future full of dreams and positivity. Much work has been done by many, but for us to attain the result we desire, we have to do more, to get back to the work of sensitization about the need and provision of free education in Nigeria, especially Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
