Bethesda Child Support Agency, a non-governmental, non-profit organization, who has been working to ensure that every child has access to quality education for the past 18 years, has decided to use the 2019 Children’s Day celebration to call on the government, private organizations and individuals to help end the growing scourge of out-of-school children.

The campaigners believe we live in a country where the poverty rate rises and school dropout rate follows suit. Education naturally takes the back burner for a family struggling to eat or even find shelter and the ones who mostly suffer the consequences are the children. Every day we see children on our highways chasing cars either begging for money or trying to sell wares in traffic. We see them in canteens, building sites and mechanic workshops engaging in child labour for meagre sums and picking up habits that are detrimental to their future.

In most poor homes, children have become breadwinners at tender ages and must contribute to the small income pool of the family if they are all to survive. Their parents, in a bid to survive the harsh economic conditions, cannot achieve their most important goal – securing the future of their children.

More female teachers needed in North to help encourage girls’ enrolment — UNICEF

For this reason, Bethesda Child Support Agency, who has been working to ensure that every child has access to quality education and has through the assistance of partners and sponsors spearheaded efforts to provide free quality education, school supplies, nutrition, and healthcare to over 5,000 Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Lagos and Ogun States seek for support.

Bethesda currently has over 1,000 children on its admission wait list and another 500 children who are at risk of dropping out of school again!

Bethesda Lend A Helping Hand campaign focuses on creating awareness about the growing scourge of out-of-school children in Nigeria and seek collaborations with philanthropists, the government and private institutions in order to strategically address the issues.