By CALEB AYANSINA

ABUJA – The 2015 Nigeria Education Data Survey, Tuesday, revealed that the country had been able to eliminate gender gap in school attendance in its education system, but still battling to improve the standard of education.

The Survey conducted by the National Population Commission NPC in collaboration with the Federal ministry of Education is a follow up on the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey NDHS, where households with children from 4 to 16 years in 2013 were revisited.

The report covered about 30,000 eligible households with not less than 30,000 parents or guardians interviewed and data of more than 45,000 children between the ages of 4-16 years collected.

Speaking at the official launching of the report in Abuja, the Chairman, National Population Commission NPC, Chief Eze Duruiheoma said the survey would provide accurate and timely data for policy makers to formulate courses of action designed to increase enrolment, attendance and learning to achieve Nigeria’s Universal Basic Education programme and Education for All (EFA) goal for the children of school age.

According to him, “The conduct of the NEDS marks another major step by the National Population Commission to respond to the national imperative of providing adequate and relevant data for national planning, particularly in the education sector.

“The importance of education in the economic, social and political development of the country cannot be overemphasised. The importance variable in the development equation is the human resources available for productive purposes. Education has great impact on the quality of the human resources by ensuring that necessary skills and knowledge are acquired.

“Effective planning in the education sector is therefore necessary in order to improve the quality of the nation’s human resources. Data from the 2015 NEDS will ensure that planning in the education sector is evidence based and will ensure maximum utilization of resources in that sector.

“I wish to appeal to all Nigerians, particularly stakeholders in the education sector, to avail themselves of the huge data generated by the 2015 NEDS in the planning, execution and evaluation of education programmes in the country.”

In his remarks, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu represented by the Permanent Secretary, Shade Yemi-Esan, promised that the government would use the report to address problem of education in the country.