Insecurity, poverty driving rise in out-of-school youths — NMEC

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Rising insecurity, poverty, and early marriage are major factors responsible for Nigeria’s growing number of out-of-school youths.

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The Director overseeing the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC), Dr John Edeh, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.

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He explained that many young people and adults were increasingly seeking survival skills rather than conventional classroom education due to prevailing socio-economic conditions.

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“The issue of insecurity is a contributing factor. Early marriage is also a factor that is making this number keep on increasing.

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“Inadequate awareness about the importance of this sector is also a factor.

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“What we are doing to address these challenges is to continue with aggressive mobilisation and sensitisation to bring more learners to the classrooms and address their needs,’ he said.

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Edeh noted that NMEC had introduced aggressive mobilisation and sensitisation campaigns to encourage enrolment into literacy programmes.

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He said the commission operates basic literacy, post-literacy, continuing education, and vocational programmes aimed at reintegrating out-of-school youths into learning.

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According to him, the programmes are flexible and allow learners to attend classes based on convenient schedules.

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“We have four major programmes, including the basic literacy programme for those people who have never seen the four walls of any school before.

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“This programme will run for six to nine months, depending on the contact hours, because the non-formal exam is flexible.

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“Learners have the choice to decide which day of the week they will be attending the classes, at least three times.

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“We also take it further to what we call post-literacy, which is equivalent to primary four to primary six, which lasts for about one and a half years.

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” So, our programmes are accelerated in nature. Just like the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEB),” he said.

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Edeh listed other programmes available in the commission to address adult literacy, including vocational programmes and continued education programmes.

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He added that integrating vocational training into literacy education is helping learners to acquire skills for economic survival.

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(NAN)

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