FG targets out-of-school crisis with smart schools

File: Education minister, Tunji Alausa

The Federal Government has launched a fresh push to tackle Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis by activating completed but non-operational Smart, Bilingual and Alternative Schools across the country, inaugurating a ministerial implementation and monitoring committee to ensure the facilities begin admitting learners.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, inaugurated the committee in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the initiative would ensure that schools constructed under the Universal Basic Education Commission do not remain idle but become fully functional learning centres serving children, particularly those excluded from formal education.

The move is part of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at expanding access to quality basic education and improving learning outcomes by ensuring that investments in education infrastructure translate into actual classroom teaching.

Alausa said the government would no longer tolerate a situation where completed school projects remain locked or fail to serve their intended purpose.