187,720 Children Out of School in Kaduna as Boys Become Majority
A new education survey has revealed that boys now make up the majority of Kaduna State’s 187,720 out-of-school children, signalling a shift in the state’s education crisis and raising fresh concerns about the growing number of children being denied their right to learn.
The findings emerged from the 2025/2026 Annual School Census and the 2026 Out-of-School Children Mapping Exercise, validated on Thursday by government agencies, development partners and civil society organisations.
According to the data, Kaduna has 2.58 million learners enrolled in 5,416 schools, but 187,720 children remain outside the classroom across the state’s 23 local government areas.
Speaking at the validation workshop, the Project Coordinator of the Reaching Out-of-School Children Project, Ezra Angai, said the mapping exercise showed that boys now constitute the majority of out-of-school children. He added that nearly two-thirds of the affected children are of primary school age and have never enrolled in school.
The report also identified poverty as the leading cause of school exclusion, accounting for almost six out of every 10 cases. It further revealed serious learning challenges, with some local government areas recording pupil-to-teacher ratios of up to 398 pupils per teacher, while more than half of public primary schools lack access to safe drinking water.
Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board Chairman, Mubarak Muhammad, said the state has reduced its estimated out-of-school population from over 500,000 to about 187,000 children. He added that 60 per cent of the affected children have never attended school, while the remaining 40 per cent dropped out.
Child rights advocates say the findings should guide targeted interventions to ensure every child, regardless of gender or background, can access safe, inclusive and quality education.
