Osun Govt Refutes Claim of 297,000 Out-of-School Children, Demands Retraction

The Osun State Government has strongly denied a newspaper report claiming that the state has 297,000 out-of-school children, labeling the publication inaccurate and misleading.

In an official statement released on Saturday in Osogbo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Adekilekun Jimoh, clarified that the figures cited by the national daily were completely fabricated and misrepresented discussions from a recent educational event.

The initial news report had claimed that the high figure was disclosed during a media dialogue organized by the state ministry in collaboration with UNICEF in Ede. However, Jimoh stated that no such data regarding out-of-school populations was presented or discussed at the event.

“We wish to clarify that at no point during the recently concluded media dialogue organized by the Osun State Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNICEF was the figure of 297,000 presented as the number of out-of-school children in Osun State,” the Permanent Secretary noted.

According to the ministry, the actual data shared during the dialogue showed that approximately 97,000 learners have registered on digital academic platforms, specifically the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) and the Passport to Earn (P2E) initiatives. These figures reflect voluntary program enrollment and digital skill acquisition rather than the state’s out-of-school demographic.

Jimoh criticized the claim that Osun holds the highest number of out-of-school children in the South-West region, describing it as malicious and damaging to the state’s educational progress. The ministry has formally requested that the publishing media organization withdraw the story and issue an official apology to the Osun State Government, the Ministry of Education, and UNICEF.

The controversy comes amidst broader national efforts to tackle educational gaps. The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to implementing targeted interventions to lower the number of out-of-school children across the country through coordinated basic education reforms and digital literacy drives.