Govt‘ll Soon Prosecute Parents of Out-of-School Students, Says Adamawa Commissioner

Daji Sani in Yola

The Adamawa State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Umar Pella, has disclosed that the state government will soon enact a law that will compel parents to enrol their children in school.

The commissioner disclosed this at  a meeting of education stakeholders, traditional rulers, and parents, sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others  in Yola, Adamawa State

He said the state government would soon prosecute parents who refused to enroll their wards to school, because that is also part of the Child’s Rights Act signed which is in operation now in the state

Pella explained that this act will take a lot of students out of the streets and also reduced the number of out-of-school students

Pella, who, meanwhile, blamed insecurity in the North as the reason for the poor embrace of educational values by many parents, advised the parents to enrol their children in school. This, he pointed out, would reduce the attraction to criminal activities that are encouraging insurgency in the Northeast.

He also commended UNICEF for the support to promote quality education in the state and urged traditional rulers to join the fight against out-of-school children, especially the girl-child in Adamawa State and the North East subregion.

Speaking also, the Chief Field Officer in Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, disclosed that the UNICEF data showed that over 80 million school-age children are out of school in Nigeria.

She pointed out that the meeting, therefore, aimed at fashioning out ideas that would ensure that every child has access to quality education in Adamawa State and the country at large.

“Some parents are not even aware of the importance of education to their children. The traditional rulers are closer to the people, so they have a crucial role to play,” she said