Enugu records 20 per cent drop in out-of-school children

The number of out-of-school children in Enugu State fell by 20 per cent between January and December 2013, Governor Sullivan Chime told the state’s house of Assembly on Tuesday.

Chime said the drop was due to the free basic education policy instituted for children in primary and junior secondary schools.

He said that available statistics showed that in 2013, the rate of school enrolment rose from 65 per cent to 85 per cent.

Chime said that more than 2,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in the state received educational empowerment from the state government in collaboration with some non-governmental organisations.

“According to the statistics that we have, school enrolment in pre-primary and primary schools rose from 65 to 85 per cent in the outgoing year, thereby reducing drastically the number of out-of-school children,” he said. “The evidence of the reforms in the education sector manifested in the results of the 2013 Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations, where 50.10 per cent of the candidates from Enugu State passed with a minimum of five credits including English and Mathematics.”

The governor said the state had acquired an emergency call centre with short code 117 through the assistance of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

He said the number would serve the dual purpose of an emergency call centre, which citizens could contact for swift responses during emergencies, and aid interactions between citizens and the state government.

Chime said that 100 security vehicles and ambulances donated to the Nigerian Police Force and the Enugu State Medical Emergency Response Team had been tracked and connected to the call centre.

“The government is now in the process of employing and training the personnel who will man the centre,’’ the governor said.

According to him, out of the 472 communities in the state, 37 had yet to be connected to the national grid and he assured the communities that they would be connected in the New Year.

The governor also presented the 2014 budget proposal of N93 billion to the state assembly.