Kaduna targets 100,000 pupils’ return as out-of-school children hit 187,719

The Kaduna State Government has identified 187,719 out-of-school children through a comprehensive household mapping exercise, providing detailed data to guide targeted investments in education, school infrastructure and poverty interventions aimed at boosting human capital development.

The findings were unveiled on Friday during the dissemination of the 2026 out-of-school children mapping report and the 2025/2026 Annual school census report in Kaduna where the State Government reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring every child has access to quality education.

Representing Governor Uba Sani, Hadigail Balaraba, the Deputy Governor, described the reports as more than statistical documents, saying they provide a roadmap for evidence-based planning and improved allocation of educational resources.

She said the mapping exercise revealed that187,719 children remain outside the school school system, with nearly 65% aged between six and eleven years, while 57% are boys. According to her, more than 91% of affected households identified poverty as the major reason children are not enrolled in school.

“The reports are not merely documents to be archived. They are a call to action,” she said, adding that every child kept out of school represents a lost opportunity for the state and the nation.

The deputy governor noted that the Kaduna North Senatorial Zone accounts for 51% of all out-of-school children, with Kubau Local Government Area recording the highest number.

She noted that the State Government had significantly reduced the out-of-school population from well over 500,000 at the beginning of the current Administration to just over187,000 attributing the progress to sustained investments in education.

According to her, education received 25% of the 2026 State budget, while the Government has sustained free basic education, reduced tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions and expanded school feeding programmes benefiting about 40% of pupils in public schools.

She added that, through partnerships with development agencies, more than 100 schools had been constructed to address the out-of-school challenge, 65 secondary schools built, over 2,300 classrooms renovated and another 55 secondary schools are under construction.

Balarabe further said the Government recruits 2,000 primary school teachers annually, had distributed over 174,000 textbooks, 190,000 exercise books, 32,000 school uniforms, school bags and other learning materials through the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board.

She said the new reports would guide future construction of schools, teacher deployment, school feeding expansion and other interventions, particularly in Kubau, Giwa, Makarfi, Soba, Igabi and other affected communities.

Earlier, Ezra Angai, Project Coordinator of the reaching out of school children (ROOSC) project, said Kaduna had moved beyond relying on estimates by conducting a detailed household mapping exercise to identify every out-of-school child, where they live and why they are not attending school.

He explained that the State initially targeted about 535,000 out-of-school children based on earlier estimates, but the latest mapping established the actual figure at 187,719.

Angai said the ROOSC project had set an ambitious target of returning 100,000 children to school within four years and had already reintegrated over 25,000 children into formal schools and learning centres.

He added that about 20,000 additional children were enrolled in catch-up learning centres and are expected to be mainstreamed into formal schools when schools resume in September.

According to him, the project is built on three pillars: expanding access to education through school construction and rehabilitation, improving learning outcomes through teacher development and strengthening community ownership of schools through School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs).

He disclosed that procurement has been completed for 42 schools, including 16 new schools currently under construction and 26 schools undergoing renovation while procurement has commenced for another 90 schools.

Angai also revealed that more than 4,000 teachers had received professional training in structured pedagogy and classroom management, while UNICEF is supporting efforts to strengthen school governance through SBMCs.

Presenting highlights of the mapping report, Baba Bukar, Statistician- General kaduna State Bureau of statistics, said the exercise covered 360,000 households across Kaduna’s 23 local government areas using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology over a one-year period.

The survey found that about 40% of out-of-school children had previously attended school but dropped out, with dropout rates increasing sharply between Primary Four and Primary Six.

The report also identified more than 4,000 children living with disabilities, including about 2,000 with severe disabilities, underscoring the need for more inclusive education policies.

It further recommended prioritising interventions in the most affected local government areas, including Kubau, Giwa, Makarfi , Soba and Burning Hearing, where the burden of out-of-school children remains highest.

The Kaduna State Government pledged to use the reports as baseline documents for future education planning while calling on development partners, traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society organisations and parents to support efforts to ensure every child is enrolled in school.