13.2 Million Time Bombs

Globally, one out of five adolescents (ages 12-15) is out-of-school compared to one out of 10 within the primary school age bracket. Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Sudan are responsible for this bleak social reality.  Nigerians under the age of 15 years account for 45 percent of the population (of about 171 million people).  Although primary school enrollment has increased in recent years, net attendance hovers around 70 percent.

The number of out-of-school children increased from 10.5 million in 2010 to 13.2 million in 2015 despite the global development agenda of achieving Education for All that year.  In fact, Nigeria accounts for 45 percent of out-of-school children in West Africa and this is the highest in the world. 7.9 million (or 69 percent) of them are in Northern Nigeria comprising 60 percent of teenage girls. The prospect of the educational development in the region has been further eroded by incessant conflicts including the Boko Haram insurgency in the last decade.  This edition of Nextier SPD Weekly examines the dangers associated with out-of-school children and makes recommendations on how the social malaise can be addressed.

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