Over 1 Million Out-of-School Children Return to Classrooms

Posted by Chinenye on Wed 09th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng

Nigeria’s education reform programme is showing major signs of progress, with more than one million children reportedly returning to school in just 20 months.

(Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa. Photo by Guardian Nigeria News)

Over one million out-of-school children have returned to classrooms in the past 20 months, Nigeria's Education Minister announced, calling it a major victory in the country's education reform programme.

The minister made the disclosure while meeting with the newly appointed UNESCO representative to Nigeria.

The government has also ensured that nearly 6.7 million girls have benefited from programmes aimed at getting them back into school and keeping them there.

However, the minister stressed that while progress on girl-child education must continue, the government cannot ignore boys' educational needs and must take a balanced approach to ensure all children have equal access to quality schooling.

The education transformation agenda is focused on six key areas: technical and vocational training, science and maths, bringing back out-of-school children, data collection and digital systems, girl-child education and quality assurance.

The government is investing heavily in teacher training and technology, using reliable data to identify gaps and measure progress.

The minister welcomed UNESCO's technical support, particularly for the teacher development programme targeting one million teachers currently in service.

He also acknowledged UNESCO's work in vocational training, digital transformation, peace education and media literacy, and called for closer alignment between UNESCO's efforts and Nigeria's own programmes.

The UNESCO representative confirmed the organisation's commitment to supporting Nigeria's education goals and said it stands ready to provide technical expertise where needed.

UNESCO has been present in Nigeria since the 1960s and has trained over 28,000 teachers and reached more than 1.7 million students through its programmes.

The government assured UNESCO of continued partnership in delivering practical results under the president's education reform agenda, while mobilising domestic resources and leveraging international partnerships to expand access and improve quality.