CSOs ask Buhari to increase education budget
Civil society organisations, education stakeholders and concerned citizens are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to give priority to education in his second term in office.
The stakeholders, in a joint statement, also expressed concern over the number of out of school children in the country, laying emphasis on the girl-child.
According to the statement, the groups collected over 2,500 signatories in a bid to encourage the federal government to prioritise girls’ education.
It added that the demands are contained in “Girl’s Education Charter” and endorsed by over 25oo girls.
Among the demands is for the federal government to allocate not less than 20 percent of the annual budget to education.
“Nigeria has more out-of-school girls than any other country in Africa — and the numbers are rising,” the statement read.
“To encourage the government to prioritise girls’ education, a coalition of nonprofits in the education sector worked with girls themselves to make specific demands for improvement and published them in the Girls’ Education Charter. This charter now has over 2,500 endorsements.
“The Girls’ Education Charter calls for the Nigerian government to increase its education budget,, amend the Universal Basic Education and commit to halving the number of out-of-school children by 2030.
“To ensure that the voices of active citizens and girls across the country who signed the charter are heard, education advocates will continue to use the charter to engage policymakers and political leaders in the new political dispensation as education policy and budgeting takes shape.”
Every reasonable and responsible government ought to allocate a large portion of its annual budget to the education sector because of the immense benefits. A well-funded education sector will have positive ripple effects on all other sectors – security, science and technology, and a higher standard of living for more people. And women and girls need to be encouraged and supported to get a decent education because it is these women who groom children. A mother is often the first teacher a child gets to meet.