ABUJA—Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has declared that the interventionist programmes to create access to basic education for less privileged children in the country would be sustained by the President Jonathan’s administration for national development.

The minister also said that the Jonathan’s administration had instituted data collection protocols to ascertain the actual number of children out of school in the country.
Wike spoke at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters Abuja during a meeting with Malala Yousafzai, an international girl child education campaigner yesterday.

He noted that going forward, the Almajiri Education Programme, the Girl-Child Education Programme and the Boy-Child Special Vocational schools would be expanded for greater enrollment of less privileged children.
He said:  “From present efforts on ground, we hope to reduce the number of children who are out of school by at least two million pupils by the beginning of the 2015 academic session by September next year. This is a pledge and we are committed to the realisation of this goal.”

He said the Jonathan’s administration was working hard to address years of neglect suffered by the education sector, through increased budgetary allocation, special programmes and projects and key interventionist programmes.

Wike assured the international community that the Safe School Initiative was effectively in place, with the Federal Government and states collaborating to ensure that children learnt under secure and conducive environment.

He added that the government was working round the clock for the release of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram.
Earlier, Malala Yousafzai urged the Federal Ministry of Education to intensify efforts to increase the enrollment of less privileged children, especially girls, in schools.

She said there was the need to address the 10.5 million out-of-school statistics to improve Nigeria’s image abroad.
Malala specifically called for the release of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram and appealed to the Federal Government to improve security in schools to encourage girls’ access  to education.
Highpoint of the programme was the presentation of a document, “Transformation of the Nigerian Education Sector Under President Jonathan Administration” by the Minister of State for Education.