Oyo enrolls 1.5 million out-of-school children within six years

Ademola Adegbite

The Oyo State Government says over 1.5 million out-of-school children have been absorbed into various public schools, under the 2017 to 2022 Better Education Service Delivery for All.

It noted that they will be mopped up and brought back to the classrooms under the BESDA-Additional Funding-Transforming Education System at the state-level programme.

This was made known on Monday by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Adeniyi Olusanjo, during the opening of a two-day training programme on community-driven development approach at the Lagelu Grammar School Hall in Ibadan, the state capital.

A statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Rotimi Babalola, stated, “The programme was targeting mopping up the remaining 1.5 million out-of-school children after those that have been successfully returned to classrooms under the BESDA within 2017 and 2022.”

He said the state enjoyed the privilege of being selected by the Federal Government and donor agencies like the World Bank and GPE because of the success achieved by the state under the BESDA programme.

Olusanjo added that the 1.5 million figure covered students from far and neighbouring states and countries that have come to the state to enjoy the state’s free education policy.

“Having noticed the success of BESDA between 2017 to 2022 in the state, the World Bank, Federal Government and Global Partnership for Education decided to pick the state, Adamawa and Katsina for the new project, which is to deliver the needed equitable access to out-of-school children in this state,” Olusanjo said.

Also speaking, the state Coordinator of BESDA-AF-TESS, Bamidele Odekunle, said the roles of the school-based management committee were very germane to the success of the new project.

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