The Street to Scholars Foundation in collaboration with the Kaduna State government is to support 187,000 out-of-school children within one year.
The Commissioner for Finance, Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed, stated this at the official flag-off of the foundation’s Kaduna programme, aimed at returning vulnerable children to school and equipping them with skills for self-reliance.
“The state government was making efforts to ensure that children excluded from formal education returned to the classroom as soon as possible.
“Kaduna State currently has 187,000 children out of school, and the governor is doing everything possible to return them to the classroom as soon as possible.
“In the next one year, we want to see zero out-of-school children,” Mohammed said.
The founder of the Street to Scholars Foundation, Sara Adeniyi, who is based in the United Kingdom, said the initiative was inspired by her encounter with street-connected children in Kaduna in 2008, when she first visited the state.
She explained that Kaduna was selected for the pilot phase because it was where she first encountered street-connected children and conceived the idea behind the foundation.
“The experience prompted me to establish a foundation dedicated to helping vulnerable children return to school and acquire skills that would enable them to become self-reliant.
“The foundation planned to support about 135 children in its first year, targeting beneficiaries aged between five and 24 years.
“The programme will cover primary and secondary education, as well as further education and skills acquisition for young people.
“Once they enter into our database, they will not leave until they get a skill, and that will be at the age of 24,” she said.
Adeniyi added that the foundation would also work to reconnect the children with their families, where appropriate, and provide a sustained educational and skills-development support.
The founder stressed that government collaboration was essential to the success of the initiative, noting that the organisation was registered in both the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
In his remarks, Kaduna State Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Mukhtar Ahmed Monrovia, said the partnership reflected the government’s commitment to inclusive development and the protection of vulnerable children.
Monrovia said the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the state government and the foundation on September 8, 2026, provided a framework for collaboration in supporting street-connected and out-of-school children.
“Poverty, inadequate support systems and limited access to educational opportunities as some of the barriers preventing vulnerable children from accessing education.
“Effective coordination among government ministries, development partners, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and communities,” he said.
He stressed the need for proper needs assessment to ensure that available resources reached children and schools requiring the greatest support.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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