The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has announced that 20.2 million out of the global 244 million out-of-school children are in Nigeria.

UNESCO’s recent press release revealed on Thursday that Nigeria’s estimated population of just over 200 million puts its out-of-school children within the reach of 10 percent of its total population.

“New UNESCO data shows that 244 million children and youth between the ages of 6 and 18 worldwide are still out of school,” the organisation stated.

“Important data gaps have been filled in countries that have large out-of-school numbers but where no administrative data of good quality has been available for over a decade, such as Nigeria which has an estimated 20.2 million children and youth out of school.”

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Sub-Saharan Africa has about 98 million children who are not enrolled in school. It is the region with the highest number of out-of-school children, and the only region where the number is increasing.

According to UNESCO, the out-of-school rate is falling more slowly than the rate at which the school-age population is growing.

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Nigeria has experienced a steady rise in out-of-school rate for over a decade.

At the current rate, sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria are lagging behind with regards to achieving universal education for its citizens. Universal education, the fourth sustainable development goal (SDG4) of the United Nations, demands that countries reduce the out-of-school rate to zero.