Why over 870,000 children are out of school in Kano – Report

A survey has revealed why an estimated 875,593 children aged five to 18 are out of school in Kano State, despite strong parental support for education in the state.

Kano has a projected 6.6million school-age children population, with the survey indicating that 13.4 per cent are out of school.

And, contrary to long-held assumptions blaming cultural resistance for northern Nigeria’s education crisis, the survey found that 99.6 per cent of parents support formal education.

The assessment, conducted across the state’s 44 local government areas and concluded in March, was Kano’s first statistically representative out-of-school children evaluation in over a decade.

It was implemented by the state Ministry of Education and the State Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the UK FCDO-funded Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE).

The state Commissioner for Education, Ali Makoda, last Thursday, presented the outcomes of the four-month survey to stakeholders and the representatives of the media.

The survey evaluated 1,783 households and 13,915 individuals, including 7,013 children aged five to 18.

According to the report, 13.4 per cent of the surveyed children were out of school, while 86.6 per cent were enrolled.

The out-of-school population recorded a male-to-female ratio of 54:46.

Mr Makoda said the survey was initiated to quantify the number of out-of-school children across the state.

He said the data will be disaggregated by gender, age, and location to identify and analyse the primary barriers preventing children from accessing education.

​He added that the project aims to map the geographic distribution of out-of-school children down to the ward and LGA levels to identify hotspots.

Additionally, it will profile household socio-economic conditions, educational backgrounds, and aspirations, establishing a clear baseline to monitor progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) through 2030.

​According to the commissioner, these insights will help the government and development partners assess the full scope of the issue and design targeted interventions to boost school enrollment.

Access and retention crisis

Surveying 7,192 children across 100 urban and rural Enumeration Areas (EAs), the study found that 86.67 per cent (6,233 children) are currently enrolled in school, while 13.34 per cent (959 children) are out of the formal education system.

It found that 6.97 per cent (501) of the surveyed children had never attended school, while 6.37 per cent (458 children) dropped out.

While getting children into the classroom remains the primary hurdle, retaining them once enrolled presents an almost equal challenge.

According to the report, financial constraints are the leading barrier, with approximately 22.3 per cent of parents unable to afford educational expenses, followed by limited access to schools at 17.2 per cent.

The report further highlighted that long distances to schools and domestic chores deter some parents from enrolling their children, while early marriage and child labour are other factors.

Myth of parental apathy

The report delivers a decisive policy reframing: the crisis is a failure of service delivery and equity, not a lack of demand.

It revealed that out of 1,783 caregivers interviewed, 99.6 per cent (1,775 respondents) stated that education is either “important” or “very important” for their children, with only a single respondent (0.056 per cent) viewing it as “not important at all.”

Additionally, 90.9 per cent of parents explicitly voiced support for equal educational access for both boys and girls.

“The policy message is unambiguous: the out-of-school crisis in Kano State is not an attitude or demand problem… Parents want school for their children; the system is failing to make it accessible, affordable, and of sufficient quality,” the survey uncovered.

Gender split and Almajiri dynamics

In a departure from typical trends where girls constitute the majority of unschooled children, Kano’s survey revealed that boys represent 54.2 per cent (520) of the out-of-school population, compared to 45.8 per cent (439) for girls.

This disparity is driven primarily by economic pressures requiring male child labour and the strong pull of the traditional Tsangaya/Almajiri system.

The most important policy reframing of this survey: 99.6 per cent of caregivers (1,775 of 1,783) consider children’s education “important” or “very important.”

Only eight respondents expressed any negative view of education’s value, and only one respondent (0.056 per cent) said it is “not important at all.” This extraordinary attitude or demand problem.

The survey exposed severe regional inequality across Kano’s 44 LGAs, ranging from zero per cent out-of-school children in Ghari LGA to an emergency level of 40 per cent in Doguwa LGA.

Top ten out-of-school children rates by LGA

1. Doguwa LGA 40 per cent
2. Warawa LGA 34.69.per cent
3. Gaya LGA 33.86 per cent
4. Sumaila LGA 28 per cent
5. Wudil LGA 26.75 per cent
6. Bichi LGA 25.83 per cent
7. Ungogo LGA 21.65 per cent
8 Kiru LGA 20.99 per cent
9. Gezawa LGA 20.16 per cent
10. Kumbotso LGA 19.85 per cent.

Researchers noted that this 40-percentage-point spread offers an immediate opportunity for targeted intervention: prioritising emergency funding and infrastructure in the top 10 highest-burden LGAs could significantly resolve the state’s overall out-of-school footprint

The report stresses that no single strategy will resolve the emergency, as the barriers keeping children out of school are evenly distributed across five core areas:
* Family and cultural pressures: 22.6 per cent
* Financial constraints: 20.8 per cent
* School-related failures: 20 per cent
* Child-level factors: 18.3 per cent
* External shocks (insecurity and disasters): 18.2 per cent

To support the state’s emergency on education and work toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) by 2030, officials emphasised that a coordinated, multi-sectoral response addressing infrastructure, safety, and poverty reduction must be deployed immediately.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt targets 10 million out-of-school children through HOPE-EDU reform

Background

In Kano, like many other northern Nigerian states, traditional non-formal Qur’anic education systems, like the Almajiri schools, often take boys away from formal basic schooling, contributing significantly to the male-skewed out-of-school ratio.

Almajiri children are often sent to study the Qur’an, during which they live with their teachers.

However, many end up on the streets as beggars and also engage in petty crimes.

The ‘Almajiri’ pupils lack basic numeracy, literacy, and entrepreneurial training comparable to students in the conventional education sector.

Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally.

The long-term consequences include reduced workforce productivity, heightened youth vulnerability to social instability, and cycles of generational poverty.