Kaduna State Launches Census to Reach 187,719 Out‑of‑School Children

The Kaduna State government released the 2025/2026 Annual School Census and Out‑of‑School Children mapping reports, showing that 187,719 children remain out of school, most due to poverty. Deputy Governor Hadiza Balarabe said the data will guide school construction, teacher deployment and targeted community interventions. Education was allocated 25 % of the 2026 state budget, reflecting the administration’s commitment to free basic education, school feeding and expanded tertiary enrolment.

Save the Children International’s country director praised the mapping as a “landmark study” that replaces guesswork with household‑level data across all 23 local government areas, enabling precise targeting of interventions. The state also adopted a digitised Education Management Information System to improve data accuracy and plans to support neighboring states with similar exercises.