TARGETS

SOME CHALLENGES MILITATING AGAINST ACHIEVING THE TARGET IN NIGERIA

4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes

· In most states, in Nigeria, primary and secondary education is not free. There is often one levy or the other being paid.

· In the northern parts of Nigeria, many children are out of school because of the persisting Almajiri caste system.

· Many who were in schools in some parts of the north have been displaced from their homes as a result of the terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and alleged herdsmen. They are now refugees as internally displaced people suffering one of the harshest forms of existence.

· Nigeria has one of the highest rates of school children in the whole of the continent of Africa. With a total of 10.2 million out of school children, Nigeria is next to India in this league of poor performing nations. This sad state of things is caused by a conspiracy of neglect, poor funding, attitudinal reasons, ineffectual implementation and institutional weaknesses.

· Since schooling involves financial expenditures; children from poor people sell on the streets rather than attend schools.

· Over the years, there is an improvement in reducing the distinct disparity of school attendance disfavouring the girl child in the southern part of Nigeria; however, this trend may still exist in the far north.

· The school feeding system which is supposed to encourage pupils from the poor to attend schools is not operational in many states of Nigeria and where they are being operated; it is froth with many challenges. This programme would not have only improved school attendance but also improve the diets of the children from poor homes who would have been assured of at least one good balanced meal per day.

· The assessment by the UN that 88% of Sub Sahara African children cannot read is very likely since these factors stated above and others are militating against regular primary and secondary level school attendance.