Kaduna Unleashes Data-Driven Plan to Bring 187,719 Children Back to Classrooms

The Kaduna State Government has just launched its 2025/2026 Annual School Census and a detailed Out-of-School Children Mapping Report, revealing a stark reality: 187,719 children are still missing from classrooms across the state. This critical data, unveiled on Friday, July 24, 2026, by Deputy Governor Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, aims to precisely pinpoint where these children are and the barriers keeping them from learning, marking a significant shift towards targeted solutions. At the heart of this challenge is poverty, identified by over 91 percent of affected families as the main reason children aren't enrolled. The reports show that nearly two-thirds of these out-of-school children are between six and eleven years old, highlighting a major issue with getting kids into school at the very beginning. This initiative builds on previous successes, as Kaduna has already dramatically cut its out-of-school population from over 500,000 through sustained investments in free basic education and school feeding programs, with education receiving 25 percent of the 2026 state budget. Looking ahead, the new data will directly guide decisions on building more schools, placing teachers where they're most needed, and developing specific programs to bring the identified children back. The state's Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) Project, backed by international partners like UNICEF and Save the Children, has already brought over 25,000 children back into learning, with a goal of enrolling 100,000 within four years. Kaduna is also becoming a model for other Nigerian states, sharing its data-driven approach to tackle this widespread issue.