The Kano State Ministry of Education has commenced the training of about 200 enumerators for a statewide survey aimed at determining the actual number of out-of-school children in Kano State.
The exercise forms part of the activities of a high-powered fact-finding committee established by the Kano State Government to obtain accurate and reliable data on the number of children currently outside the formal education system across the state.
Speaking during the training session, the Secretary of the committee, Bashir Adamu Gwarzo, said the enumerators are undergoing a two-day training programme designed to prepare them for the survey.
According to him, the training adopts a train-the-trainers approach, where selected officers are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to supervise and guide other field personnel who will participate in the data collection exercise across the 44 Local Government Areas of the state.
Gwarzo explained that the objective of the training is to ensure that enumerators understand the methodology for data gathering and the importance of accuracy in documenting information during the survey.
“The training is meant to equip the enumerators with the knowledge required to undertake the survey effectively and ensure that the data collected is reliable and useful for policy planning,” he said.
The committee conducting the survey is chaired by the Technical Adviser to the Governor on Education, Haladu Muhammad, and was constituted by the Kano State Government to verify the actual number of out-of-school children in the state.
The initiative followed earlier estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which indicated that about 989,234 children in Kano State were out of school as of early 2025.
As part of the survey process, trained enumerators will be deployed to communities across the 44 local government areas to collect data that will help the government determine whether the number of out-of-school children is higher, lower, or close to the earlier estimate.
The findings of the survey are expected to guide the state government in designing targeted interventions, including the construction of learning centres and other educational programmes, aimed at addressing the growing challenge of out-of-school children in Kano State.