Kaduna Completes Validation of 2.58 Million Students, Identifies 187,720 Out-of-School Children

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Kaduna State has validated data on 2.58 million learners enrolled in 5,416 schools and 187,720 out-of-school children mapped across 360,319 households in all 23 local government areas, following a joint validation workshop to finalize the state’s education evidence base.

The workshop for the Kaduna State Annual School Census (ASC) 2025/2026 and the Out-of-School Children (OOSC) Mapping Report 2026, held in June 2026, brought together federal and state agencies, development partners, and civil society to verify and certify the figures before they are used for planning and budgeting.

Opening the session, Project Coordinator and PMU Lead of the ROOSC Project, Ezra Angai, said the exercise was “a validation — not a launch,” and urged participants to test the numbers against realities on the ground.

Angai described the two reports as “two halves of a single picture.” The ASC captures who is inside the system: 2.58 million learners, 5,416 schools, and 35,142 teachers, while the mapping report shows who remains outside it.

“One report counts our capacity; the other counts our conscience,” Angai said. “Where the census records pupil-teacher ratios of 200, 300, even 398 to one in Kubau, Birnin Gwari, Makarfi, the mapping finds the heaviest concentrations of out-of-school children. Where the system is weakest, exclusion is highest.”

He highlighted findings that require policy attention, including the reversal that boys now form the majority of out-of-school children, that nearly two-thirds of excluded children are of primary age and have never attended school, and that poverty accounts for almost six in ten cases. He added that more than half of public primary schools lack safe drinking water.

Angai thanked the Kaduna State Government, Save the Children International, and donors under the ROOSC Project, including the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Education Above All, Global Partnership for Education, and UNICEF, for their technical and financial support. He also appreciated the 360,319 households that participated in the mapping.

Delivering the keynote, Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed, said reliable data is the foundation of effective governance. He noted that accurate education statistics eliminate guesswork in planning, budgeting, and policy implementation.

Ahmed said the ASC provides comprehensive information on schools, enrollment, teachers, infrastructure, and learning resources, while the OOSC mapping will help the government identify vulnerable children and design targeted interventions.

He assured stakeholders that the validated findings would guide education budgets and resource allocation.

Statistician-General of Kaduna State, Dr. Bukar Baba Alhaji, said quality data remains essential for evidence-based planning.

He noted that the validation eliminated inconsistencies and ensured the final dataset reflects realities in schools and communities.

Also speaking, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Education, Salisu Baba Lawal, said “quality education begins with quality data,” and noted that the mapping would strengthen the implementation of the ROOSC Project.

Executive Chairman of Kaduna SUBEB, Mubarak Muhammad, described the reports as milestones in addressing the issue of out-of-school children.

He said Kaduna had reduced its estimated out-of-school population from over 500,000 to about 187,000, with about 60 percent of those affected never having attended school and 40 percent having dropped out.

Representative of Save the Children International, Emmanuel Umbusa, stated that the organization provided technical support throughout the mapping and that community participation and quality assurance strengthened the credibility of the data. He urged the government to complement free education with economic empowerment for vulnerable households.

Participants were drawn from the National Bureau of Statistics, the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Commission for Almajiri and Reaching Out-of-School Children Project, UNICEF, the Institute for Policy, the Kaduna Quality Assurance Authority, the Kaduna SUBEB, the State Ministry of Education, and other stakeholders.

Participants at the workshop unanimously stressed that collaboration, credible statistics, and evidence-based planning are crucial to achieving inclusive, high-quality education across Kaduna State.