What happens when you are born into a circumstance that determines the cause of your entire life? There is little you can do. Especially when you are under the strict hospices of a family who believe in vain traditions and religious practices. This may seem far-fetched, but it is the story of over 10 million Nigerian children between the ages of 5 and 14.
Education deprivation in northern Nigeria is driven by various factors, including economic barriers and socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage attendance in formal education, especially for girls. (UNICEF). On the 8th of September 2022, Rahama Farah the Chief of Field Office at UNICEF Kano stated that out of the 18.5 million out-of-school children in the country, over 10 million were girls (ThisDay Newspaper publication). In the northeast and northwest, what most Muslim children are given is Qur’anic education which, according to UNICEF, does not include literacy and numeracy skills.
Asides from these religious and traditional practices that hold down the future of children, the situation of the country also contributes to it:
“In north-eastern Nigeria, 2.8 million children are in need of education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected States (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa). In these States, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged but repairable.”
UNICEF, 2013
Many times, life will require that we stand up to challenge our circumstances. But how can we fight for what we want, when we are not even educated enough to know what we want, what we can get, and what life has to offer outside of our immediate environment? These children have been raised to believe that life begins and ends with waking up, eating, learning the Qu’ran, getting married, bearing kids and repeating the circle.
We may not be directly responsible for out-of-school kids, but we are by virtue of being their fellow countrymen. We will face the consequences if we do not do something. With the growing rate of out-of-school children, it won’t be surprising to find that illiterates have dominated our country. This will affect the decision-making and growth of the nation. So what do we do? We stand up to change the situation. The future is now.
