Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
Only 35.6 per cent of Nigerian children aged 36 to 59 months are currently enrolled in any form of Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE), leaving millions outside the system.
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) disclosed this Tuesday in Abuja, warning that the low enrollment is responsible for poor learning outcomes and high dropouts in basic education.
Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Aisha Garba, who spoke at a three-day workshop on ECCDE Minimum Standards and Implementation Guidelines, said the figure means about 10 million of Nigeria’s youngest children are not captured in early learning.
Represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Rasaq Olajuwon Akinyemi, Garba said the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) shows 46 per cent of children aged 24 to 59 months are developmentally off-track.
“Only 35.6 per cent of Nigerian children aged 36 to 59 months attend any form of early childhood education. That leaves roughly 10 million of our youngest children outside ECCDE altogether,” Garba said.
She linked the poor foundation to learning crisis at higher levels, noting that 70% of Nigerian 10-year-olds cannot read and understand a simple text and of 5.9 million children who enter primary one each year, only about 2.4 million remain in school by the end of Junior Secondary School (JSS).
“There is no cheaper place in the education system to buy results,” she said, citing Nobel Laureate James Heckman’s research that high-quality birth-to-five programmes yield about 13 per cent return per child annually.
She said ECCDE must be treated as an integrated national priority involving health, nutrition, water and sanitation, women affairs, social welfare and education, and also cited the 2023-24 NDHS which puts stunting in under-5 children at 40% nationally at 12% in Rivers State and as high as 65% in Katsina State.
The executive secretary therefore directed states to include ECCDE in their State Matching Grant Action Plans, warning that anything not in the plan will not be funded.
She announced an extension for submission of ECCDE Action Plans from September 30 to October 5, 2026, but said late entries will be rejected, even as she ordered states to ensure ECCDE centres meet minimum standards on child safety, supervision, safeguarding, food and water safety and emergency exits, and that children with disabilities and those in nomadic, riverine, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities are included.
She called for stronger engagement with parents, School-Based Management Committees, traditional and religious leaders to reach children outside conventional classrooms.
Acting Director, Special Programmes and Early Childhood, UBEC, Dr. Chijioke J. Onwuzurike, said Nigeria has over 45 early childhood delivery channels across health, nutrition, education, agriculture and social protection, but they are fragmented and duplicate efforts.
She said in the next 18 months, states are expected to map and streamline their platforms and establish functional multi-sectoral coordination.
“School readiness is not something that begins at the primary school gate; by the time a child reaches that gate, it is largely decided,” she said.
UNICEF Education Specialist, Yetunde Oluwatosin, said getting early childhood right is critical to solving Nigeria’s out-of-school problem.
“So it’s really important for us to get the foundation right, because it helps the child to continue learning,” she said, noting that UNICEF supported government to develop ECCD policy, minimum standards and curriculum benchmarked to global standards.