In recent times, the challenge of children dropping out of school has continued to generate serious concern as it increases the number of out-of-school children in the country.

Reports have indicated that students drop out of school due to poverty, cultural differences, early marriage and insecurity.

Recently, the World Bank deputy country director, Taimur Samad, disclosed that more than two-thirds of girls in Nigeria drop out before making it to junior secondary school.

Samad, who represented the country director, Ndiame Diop, at the national conference on girls’ education and empowerment that was held in Abuja, said 35 per cent are married off by the age of 15, and 45 per cent give birth before the age of 18.

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While noting challenges faced by girl-child education to include high dropout rate, early marriage and teenage pregnancies, he said the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme is ambitious and aims to reach over 25 million children, of which 15 million are students, 9 million approximately, are adolescent girls across 18 states.

Meanwhile, an official report by the World Bank seen by Daily Trust showed that of the over 11 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, 50 per cent have never attended school, 25 per cent have dropped out, and 25 per cent attend Islamic schools.

Also, the document showed that dropping out of school is prevalent for all ages, but starts to increase gradually for 12-year-olds and older.

However, data also shows that there are more male dropouts than females at the senior secondary school level nationwide.

Data analysis of drop-out of school students

There is always the projection that there are more girls that drop out of school than boys, but data shows that more boys drop out of school at the senior secondary school stage across that country.

The current report on Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria shows that the number of students who started SS1 dropped as they progressed to SS2 and SS3.

According to the 2023/2024 Senior Secondary Schools data on the number of dropouts produced by the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), 127,067 students dropped out of school from 20 states out of 36 states and the FCT.

The data showed that 2.51 per cent (127,067) of learners dropped out of senior secondary school nationwide in the 2023/2024 session with 56.43 per cent (71,7010 male and 43.57 per cent (55,366) female dropouts.

The data showed that Abia State has the highest number of dropouts with 36,700 (19,475 males and 17,225 females) with 12,550 (7,050 males and 5500 females) dropping out in SS1; 11,975 (6,250 males and 5,725 females) in SS2 and; 12,175 (6,175 males and 6,000 females) in SS3.

Kano followed with 30,863 (20,643 males and 10,220 females) with 6,063 (4,733 males and 1,330 females) in SS1; 10,800 (7,950 male and 2,850 females) in SS2 and; 14,000 (7,960 males and 6,040 females) in SS3.

Ebonyi State came third with 13,048 dropouts (6,019 males and 7,029 females) with 4,596 (2,196 males and 2,400 females) in SS1; 4,488 (2,006 males and 2,488 females,) in SS2; and 4,144 (1,817 males and 2,327 females) in SS3.

Sokoto followed with 11,339 (7,610 male and 3,729 females) dropouts with 4,134 (2,456 male and 1,678 females) in SS1; 2,660 (2,124 males and 536 females) in SS2 and; 4,543 (3,030 males and 1,513 females).

Kogi followed with 9,094 (4,455 males and 4,639 females) and Ondo with 5,942 (290 males and 2,852 females) dropouts.

Other states with high dropout rates include Katsina with 4,738 (2,792 males and 1,946 females); Taraba with 4,162 (2,107 males and 2,055 females); Osun with 2,594  (1,278 males and  1,316 females); Kaduna with 2,418 (1,037 males and 1,381 females); Plateau with 1,709 (815 males and 894 females); Nasarawa with 1,162 (592 males and 570 females), Bauchi 901 (476 males and 425 females); Gombe 617 (338 males and 279 females) and Yobe with  436 (301 males and 135 females).

Niger 381, Kwara 238, Zamfara 194, Ekiti 171, Anambra 96 and Benue 4, came with the lowest number of dropouts.

The data showed that Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Lagos and Ogun did not record any dropouts.

Reactions

An educationist, Michael Sule, said there are different reasons for different students to drop out of school which include poverty, insecurity, bullying, poor performance and relocation.

He said it is a common factor to start a class with a reasonable number and at the end of the session not all will proceed to the next class as a result of different factors and some are unavoidable.

“What is important is to ensure that every child completes his or her education irrespective of the challenge they face and that means government, parents, teachers and all stakeholders address the challenges that are causing learners to drop out.

“When that is done, they can put a penalty to deter parents from allowing their children to stay out of school,” he said.

A school proprietress, Hajiya Maryam Magaji, said the issue of dropping out of school in Nigeria can only be resolved by carrying private schools, community leaders and the people in the community along and recognising their support.

She said they support the government to fight the out-of-school children problem in Nigeria.

“We have our own committee that works on that issue, more especially the out of school, orphans and children of parents that cannot afford to pay school fees for their children so I believe we can help to tackle dropouts if the government can assist private schools with grants,” she said.