The Abia State Government has announced a crackdown on truancy and absenteeism among school-aged children, vowing to arrest parents of children found outside school during school hours. The initiative, aimed at enforcing compulsory education, will be spearheaded by the state’s newly formed education marshals.
Goodluck Ubochi, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, disclosed this during a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the launch of the Abia Schools Transformation Programme scheduled for February 26, 2025. According to Ubochi, the education marshals will begin operations on March 1, 2025, actively identifying children who are not in school during designated hours. These children will be taken into custody and used to trace their parents, who will face punitive measures for failing to ensure their wards attend school.
The commissioner emphasized that the state government had made significant investments in the education sector and would not tolerate any disregard for compulsory schooling. He stated that the transformation of Abia schools would commence with 221 selected institutions out of the state’s 1,600 schools. This pilot phase includes 10 primary and five secondary schools from each of the 17 local government areas, forming the foundation for broader systemic reforms aimed at enhancing the quality of education.
The move comes amid alarming statistics on Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis. UNICEF estimates indicate that over 18 million Nigerian children at the primary and junior secondary school levels are not receiving formal education. A recent UNESCO report further placed the country’s total out-of-school population at 28 million, with 19.5 million in rural areas and 8.5 million in urban regions. Abia itself has struggled with educational challenges, with Nigeria’s 2022 multidimensional poverty index revealing that 5.6 percent of children aged 6 to 15 in the state are out of school.
In January 2025, the Abia State Government launched a free and compulsory education initiative covering children up to the junior secondary level. This policy aligns with the Abia State Child Rights Law of 2006, which mandates basic education for all children. To ensure compliance, the government established education marshals tasked with monitoring school attendance and addressing cases of truancy.
Furthermore, the state has allocated 20 percent of its 2025 budget to the education sector, signaling a strong commitment to improving learning conditions and access to quality education. Officials believe that strict enforcement of school attendance, coupled with sustained investments in educational infrastructure, will significantly reduce the number of out-of-school children in Abia.
As the enforcement date approaches, the government’s bold stance on education is expected to spark conversations on parental responsibility and the effectiveness of punitive measures in addressing school absenteeism. Whether this approach will lead to lasting improvements in school enrollment and retention remains to be seen, but for now, Abia is making it clear that truancy will no longer be tolerated.
