About 46,000 children in Cross River State have dropped out of school due to various reasons, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Offiong .E. Offiong has said. Offiong said that of the estimated 10 million children whose education had been truncated in the country, Cross River State contributed about 50 percent of the total number. He spoke during an interaction with journalists yesterday in Calabar, the state capital.
According to him, the state government was confronted with the challenge of how to identify and mainstream this number of children, a situation that has necessitated the expansion of facilities in the various schools across the state.
“The emerging issue that affected the education sector in 2013 is the fact that Nigeria is said to have 10 million out of school children. Out of this number, over 46,000 was credited to Cross River State primary schools,” the commissioner said.
He reiterated the state government’s commitment to ensure that every child of school age is given quality education in furtherance of Governor Liyel Imoke’s desire to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Apart from the challenge posed by out of school children, the commissioner also complained about the new National Policy on Education which provides for a one-year pre-primary education for children age 5-6.
According to him, the new policy has presented an infrastructure burden on the state as additional classes will have to be created and more teachers recruited, a situation he claimed was not in favour of the government.
Offiong said: “Closely related to the out of school issue is that of the new National Policy on Education which provides for a oneyear pre-primary education for children a 5-6. the implication of this is that additional classes for the pre-primary school have to be created.
Although we have taken steps to implement this, there is bound to be a need for expansion of the existing facilities and recruitment of additional staff.” He, however, added that the state government had been doing everything possible to implement the policy, which, according to him, would take off next year.
