Chairman of Nigeria’s House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education has declared the move to amend the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act 2004 as urgent national priority.
The lawmaker, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, declared his commitment to free, safe and gender-responsive basic education by signing the ‘Legislative Declaration on Covid-19 and Girls’ Education’.
He signed the document during a meeting with a delegation of the #AmendUBEAct coalition at the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The #AmendUBEAct coalition is a group of development partners, international and local organisations supporting the process to strengthen the legal framework for free, safe and quality basic education in Nigeria.
According to a joint statement, Invictus Africa, Malala Fund, Plan International Nigeria, Save the Children and YouthHubAfrica represented the coalition at the meeting.
The population of out-of-school children in Nigeria is over 13 million, the highest in the world, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Data from the UN agency also shows that 69 percent of these children are in Nigeria’s northern region, and 60 percent of them are girls.
Furthermore, recent findings by YouthHubAfrica reveal that many schools struggle with insufficient finances.
As a result, most schools collect additional finances, described as hidden fees, from students.
The UBE Act amendment bill, which is at the committee stage at the House of Representatives, seeks to extend free and compulsory education from nine to 12 years in Africa’s most populous nation.
It also seeks to ensure an increase in basic education financing and promotion of gender-responsive learning.
‘I am committed to basic education sector reform and glad to sign this declaration. I am an academician and the Chair of the House Committee on Basic Education’, the Political Science professor said.
‘I focus my entire constituency allowance on basic school renovations and furniture because if I do not make an impact on Basic Education, what else can I do’?
Taking into account the needs of girls and supporting their return to school and education emergencies, the lawmaker, according to the statement, also promised to sponsor Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 education reforming laws.
‘Statistics already show that while we may be making progress with school enrolments, the
higher the class, the lower the number of girls’, the Invictus Africa Executive Director, Bukky Shonibare, said.
‘This means school enrolment is increasing, but school retention is decreasing. Hence, this #AmendUBEAct advocacy and process will help us have holistic and long-term gains in girl-child education while closing the educational inequality gap’.
For her part, Malala Fund In-country Representative, Crystal Ikanih-Musa, said increasing UBE fund was critical to Nigeria’s education plan for recovery and resilience.
Malala Fund’s recent research shows that 20 million additional secondary school-aged girls around the world may be out of school once the crisis has passed due to increased rates of poverty, household responsibilities and child labour.
‘We are facing a new and difficult economic reality’, she said.
‘I implore you to remember that amending the Universal Basic Education Act (2004) to cover up to senior secondary school, and ensuring adequate funding – increasing UBE fund from two to three percent CRF – is critical to Nigeria’s education plan for recovery and resilience to build back better in response to the Covid-19 pandemic’.
Also speaking, the Education Lead at Plan International Nigeria, Laban Onisimus, said, ‘The process has been slow, but surely with the commitment of all stakeholders – our
collective desire of lifelong learning for children (especially girls) will soon be achieved’.
For the Advocacy, Campaign and Policy Manager at Save the Children Nigeria, Badar Musa, the signing of the legislative declaration by the Chairman House Committee on Basic
Education is a big win for the process of reforming UBE in Nigeria.
‘The more the quality of basic education is improved and children have unlimited access to free, safe and uninterrupted learning opportunities, the better they will live up to their dreams and potentials’, he said.
Source: Malala Fund
Photo source: YouthHubAfricaTV/Heal Enemona
