Out-of-School Children in Nigeria: A Creation by Society and its Implications for Nation Building

Abstract

Education is a major key to the development of any nation. The realization that education is an engine room to the advancement of both industrial and technological growth of nations has propelled the leadership and citizens of many nations to consider the training of their younger generations with seriousness. The school is a formal institution vested with the responsibility to ensure that children are properly trained in the methods, ways and means for the future progress of the society. In Nigeria, there are educational policies put in place in line with other international institutions to ensure that all children at least acquire the basic level of education. Presently, there are millions of children that lack access to basic education. These children are referred to as out-of-school children. The real statistical figure of these children appears obviously shady. With the rapid explosion of the number of out-of-school children, Nigeria has been described globally as the country with the largest population of such children. It is on record that one out of every child that is excluded from formal education in Africa is a Nigerian child. There are many reasons that evidently might be responsible for lots of these children being out-of-school. Among them are poverty, ignorance, insecurity, corruption, the devaluation of education and knowledge in the social system, materialism and many more. No one can expect to reap what he/she did not give or sow, subsequently the aftermath of leaving out these children without completing their education had multiple negative consequences to the child, the society and the country at large. For one, such children might become ready crop of adults later in life to serve in menial positions of responsibilities with low salary grades; experience marital instabilities due to their economic status and therefore become ready tools that could be ignorantly manipulated by the political elite in the society. They may also raise families without birth control, thereby extending a vicious cycle of people living in poverty and low self-esteem. Beyond being easily exploited, most of them become known for anti-social vices, such as cultism, criminals with tendencies as armed robbery, drug addicts, rapists, kidnapers, hoodlums, and sex workers (prostitutes). The implications of all these to nation building is stagnation and general insecurity to life and property. The article then proffered some likely suggestions that can assist the society to overcome some of these psychosocial challenges once taken into consideration.