By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development had hinted that the Federal Government would extend free meals largess to Out-Of- School children while the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, would be given to their parents.
Farouq said,” The Alternate School Programme National Steering Committee says it will provide free meals for Out-Of-School Children, OOSC, and Conditional Cash Transfer for parents of the children while the children are being educated.”
The minister who is also the Chairman of the committee made this known on Monday at the 5th meeting of the Technical Working Group of the Alternate School Programme Steering Committee held at the Treasury House in Abuja.
According to a release made available to Daybreak, the meeting was convened as a follow-up after members of the TWG visited selected cluster sites in each of the six geo-political zones and FCT to assess the plight of the children.
Farouq explained that the inability of Out-Of-School-Children OOSC to access education was partly due to their socio-economic obstacles.
She however stated that the OOSC problem will be tackled through several distinct measures.
“We have aimed to tackle this problem in a multi-pronged fashion by not only providing educational opportunities to the OOSC but simultaneously providing them buffers against challenges that impede their ability to access education; for example, daily feeding for them when they are being educated by us and Conditional Cash Transfers for their parents to enable their active participation. This will be done through the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs) under the Ministry as this is a much-needed intervention for this vulnerable section of the population.”
The Minister also explained that the field expedition has thrown more light on the plight of Out-Of-School-Children in the country which will also help in the planning and provision of infrastructure for their re-integration into the school system.
“We will hear the much needed feedback on the beneficiaries, the environments and how the ASP can effectively be situated in these places. It is hoped that these visits have given the Technical Working Group much needed insight into how this programme can be scaled up on a national level in line with the wishes of Mr. President; and how they can improve their designs on implementation for the imminent rollout of this programme.”
Furthermore part of the resolutions adopted by the Committee include the immediate conduct of a census of OOSC in the country, the immediate take-off of the Alternate School Peogramme Hubs and the provision of adequate budgetary allocation for the School Feeding Programme to cater for the ASP Hubs.
States visited for the programme are Kano, Enugu, Rivers, Borno, Plateau, Lagos and the FCT.
