Read what a U.S funded survey says about education in Northern Nigeria
Survey shows that the northern region of Nigeria still has the lowest primary and secondary schools attendance.
-Survey says although there is a general growth in primary school attendance and gender parity slightly
A survey carried out by the National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the federal ministry of education (FMOE), the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has showed that northwest and northeast geopolitical zones has one of the lowest enrollment in primary and secondary education.
A school in one of the Internal Displaced Camps in Northern Nigeria
The survey referred to as 2015 Nigeria Education Data Survey (NEDS) was funded by the United States Agency for International Department (USAID) with technical support from RTI international.
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The survey which was launched on Tuesday, March 8, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja revealed that although primary school attendance and gender parity has improved across all regions of Nigeria, the Southern states still has an upper edge as females and males attend primary school equally.
“The pattern of large regional disparities in the rate of primary school attendance in Nigeria has not changed over time, despite some minor fluctuations in regional school attendance rates.
“Gender parity has improved slightly in all regions. In the south east, south south and south west regions, females and males attend primary school equally,” the survey said.
Also in the secondary school net attendance ratio (NAR), the survey revealed that despite a general growth in secondary school attendance in the country, the north west and north east regions are still the lowest.
Quoting the report: “Despite steady growth in secondary net attendance, north west (32%) and north east (31%) regions continue to have the lowest NARs.
“South west (76%) and south south (73%) regions have the highest attendance rates in secondary school, and along with south east, all show higher attendance rates for girls as compared with attendance rates for boys. All region have reduced or eliminated any gender gap in favour of boys”.
Speaking at the event, the USAID-Nigeria Mission director, Micheal Harvey, challenged development experts, the Nigerian government and other stakeholders to make adequate use of the data from the states especially those from the north east in order to help formulate policies needed in rebuilding the region.
“I challenge you to give particular attention to the data from the states of the northeast, which will be critical in helping formulate policies for rebuilding the sector in that area,” Harvey said.
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Earlier in his keynote address, the chairman of the NPC, Chief Eze Duruiheoma affirmed the reliability and credibility of the survey adding that it (survey) was carried out in a meticulous and scientific approach in order for it to meet the lofty objective of providing the much needed data for educational planning.
He also appealed to Nigerians, especially stakeholders in the education sector, to put to good use the huge data contained in the 2015 NEDS for planning, execution and evaluation of education programmes in the country.
“Education has great impact on 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,” the NPC chairman remarked.
The official launch also had in attendance the representative of the statistician-general of the federation, Mrs Patricia Enzenwa, and Honourable minister of education.
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