By Femi Mustapha in Kaduna
The Kaduna State Government has mainstreamed more than 15,000 learners who completed the three-month Catch-Up Club into formal schools across 14 local government areas.
The symbolic event, held at LGEA Primary School in Babban Saura, brings the total number of out-of-school children returned to school under the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) Project to more than 36,000, including more than 26,000 previously enrolled.
The project coordinator, Mr. Ezra Angai, said Governor Uba Sani’s administration mandated the project to return 100,000 out-of-school children to school within four years, a task being carried out in collaboration with Save the Children International.
According to him, Babban Saura serves as a symbolic launchpad for the exercise, which is happening simultaneously across the state. He added that it demonstrates a commitment to the idea that when the government takes something seriously, ways and means appear.
He thanked the Kaduna State Government; donor partners, including the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait Fund, Save the Children International, Education Above All, the Global Partnership for Education, and UNICEF; and SUBEB Executive Chairman Dr. Mubarak Muhammad for their support.
Explaining the modalities, Angai said Kaduna State mapped more than 360,000 households and identified 187,719 out-of-school children, recording their locations and reasons for being out of school.
He said that after the mapping, Save the Children International enrolled learners found on the streets, in garages, and at home, and introduced Catch-Up Clubs as a three-month remedial program to enable appropriate placement in Primary One, Two, Three, and above.
He added that the project had signed MoUs with Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools to provide foundational literacy and numeracy, while radio learning and faci. At the same time, training had been instituted for hard-to-reach communities.
In his remarks, SUBEB Executive Chairman Dr. Mubarak Muhammad said Governor Uba Sani declared a state of emergency in education in 2023, when the state had more than 535,000 out-of-school children, leading to the initiation of ROOSC.
He said the government supported the children with learning kits to motivate them to reenroll and would continue building teacher capacity and providing classrooms to create a conducive learning environment.
The project director for Save the Children’s ROOSC Project, Mr. Emmanuel Mbursa, said the event was held to mainstream learners after the three-month catch-up program and handed them over to the head teacher and education secretary.
The school’s head teacher, Hajiya Rabi’atu Yahya Abdullahi, thanked the government, donors, and parents, saying she was happy to see children who had stayed at home return to school.
She, however, appealed for more classrooms and fencing, disclosing that the school, established in 1976, now has 2,005 learners but only 12 classrooms.
The district head of Babban Saura, Alhaji Dauda Hashimu, also thanked the government and partners, describing ROOSC as laudable and calling for more classrooms. He noted that the school has a large expanse of land.
Parents, including Jummai Adamu Babansaura and Samaila Musa, praised ROOSC and the government for empowering children who had not been attending school and prayed for the project to flourish.
