FG Warns of ‘Invisible Dropouts’ as Girls Disengage From School While Still in Class

The Federal Government has raised concerns over a growing form of “invisible dropout” in Nigerian schools, warning that some girls may be abandoning education emotionally and academically long before they are officially recorded as having left school.

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, raised the concern on Monday at a National Trainers’ Workshop on Safe Learning Environment, Gender-Responsive Technology and ICT Skills for Educators in Abuja.

According to the Minister, simply seeing a child inside a classroom should no longer be regarded as proof that the child is actually benefiting from education.

She explained that bullying, abuse, ridicule, exclusion and unsafe school environments can gradually push girls away from learning even when they continue attending school every day.

“She is present every morning, but slowly, quietly, she withdraws. If we count only enrolment, we may miss that girl entirely.”

Prof. Ahmad said Nigeria's education system must therefore look beyond enrolment figures and physical attendance and pay greater attention to whether children are participating, learning and feeling safe in school.

She linked the concern to Nigeria's wider learning crisis, citing UNICEF data indicating that 74 per cent of children aged 7 to 14 lacked basic reading and mathematics skills in 2024.

The Minister said the Federal Government was seeking a shift from an education system focused primarily on getting children into classrooms to one that also guarantees their safety, inclusion, participation and learning outcomes.

She noted that the Federal Ministry of Education had introduced the National Policy on Anti-Bullying in Nigerian Schools and its implementation guidelines, but stressed that the effectiveness of such policies would ultimately depend on what happens inside individual classrooms.

The workshop is expected to train 45 master trainers from 15 teacher-training colleges in gender-responsive pedagogy, safe learning environments, prevention and response to school-related gender-based violence, and digital teaching. The trainees are expected to cascade the knowledge to about 500 teacher educators in their institutions.

The Minister also acknowledged the difficult conditions under which many teachers work, including overcrowded classrooms, inadequate teaching materials and heavy workloads, stressing that teachers must be properly prepared and supported to implement education policies effectively.