Magnus Eze, Abuja
The United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has said 30 percent of Nigerian girls between the age of 15 and 19 are currently married.
The report also revealed that 14 percent of poorest females and 27 percent of poorest males respectively, completed primary school.
UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report, which monitors progress towards the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG4), also said.: “The attendance rate between 3 and 4 years olds was over 80 percent in Nigeria for richest children and no more than 10 percent for the poorest.
“There are no regulations of formal and informal private tutoring in Nigeria, which the report finds can exacerbate inequality in education, and damage learning if teachers are tutoring their same students after class.”
A statement by Senior Programme Specialist of the UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa, in Abuja, Saidou Jallow, yesterday, said that the 2017/18 GEM report will be launched in Abuja, today.
Jallow explained that the report underscores the importance of accountability in addressing gaps and inequalities, explaining that, it highlights the responsibility of governments to provide universal quality education and that accountability is indispensable in achieving this goal.
Also, the report “warns that disproportionate blame on any one actor for systemic educational problems can have serious negative side effects, widening inequality and damaging learning.”
Since accountability starts with governments, the report emphasised the need for government to urgently strengthen regulations for all education providers-public and private-accompanied with sanctions for those not respecting standards.
It also called on government to make the right to education justiciable.