The Inclusion Project (TIP) joins the rest of the world in observing the International Day for Education with the theme “Learning for Lasting Peace” and calls on the Government to prioritize education by investing more funds and ensuring safe and quality basic education for all.
The importance of education cannot be overemphasized. It is a potent tool for shaping individuals’ perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors, creating a more peaceful society. Education is vital in improving health outcomes, eliminating poverty, promoting gender equality, enhancing environmental sustainability, and fostering international cooperation.
Regrettably, Nigeria bears the burden of accounting for one out of every five out-of-school children globally, with a staggering 45 percent of out-of-school children in West Africa. This is the stark reality for the self-proclaimed “Giant of Africa,” with over 13 million children currently out of school. Nigeria also accounts for 45% of out-of-school children in West Africa, and this situation can be attributed to the need for more funding and efficient budget utilization. Nigerian Government allocation to the Education sector has remained less than 10 percent despite UNESCO’s recommendation of 15-25% allocation of the national budget to education. Only N1.44 trillion was recently allocated to education in the 2024 budget.
According to TIP’s Director, Pamela Okoroigwe “To reduce violence in Nigeria, the Nigerian Government must prioritize education and provide adequate funding for basic education to ensure well-equipped schools and well-trained teachers. There is a need to ensure adequate monitoring of the utilization of resources in the education sector.
TIP believes that all hands must be on deck to ensure quality basic education for all. Over the years, TIP has worked assiduously with critical stakeholders in the campaign for the right to free/ access to quality education for children in Lagos, Imo, and Kano states, respectively. TIP believes that proper elementary and secondary education driven by the Government and actively supported by the communities is a key catalyst for eliminating barriers that perpetuate gender-based violence and for promoting lasting peace within communities.
In celebration of the 2024 International Day of Education, TIP will publish clips of traditional rulers and community leaders in Imo State and Kano states, encouraging girls to be in school and reaffirming communities’ efforts to support every girl to attend school up to secondary school. This emphasizes the urgent need for deliberate and systematic commitments by these leaders to continue to promote and encourage the enrolment of girls in schools. Additionally, TIP will be visiting the Special Correctional Centre for Girls, and children Correctional for girls at Idi-Araba, Lagos, to reemphasize the need and importance of being focused and fervent with their education despite all odds, and at the same time, create awareness of how art can serve as a powerful means of expression to educate the world and promote world peace through the imaginative power of artistic creation. The girls at the juvenile center will express their ideas of world peace through education with the guidance of an expert artist.
TIP remains resolute in its commitment to advocating for quality access to basic education as a fundamental right and therefore calls on the Nigeria government at all tiers to launch aggressive implementation strategies and policies that will advance total compliance with the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act which will guarantee that every Nigeria child accesses free, compulsory and quality basic education.
Signed
Bidwell Onyeakosi
Director