Nigerian Parents Selling Off Children’s School Uniforms To Survive – Edu Commissioner

The Kano State Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Ali Haruna Makoda, has revealed that extreme poverty is compelling some parents to sell off school uniforms provided free by the government, in a desperate effort to survive.

Makoda made the disclosure while speaking with journalists in his office on Tuesday, lamenting how widespread poverty is undermining government efforts to revamp education across the state.

“Can you imagine parents selling the uniform of their children provided by the State Government, in order to eat?” the commissioner said.

He said the uniforms were part of over 800,000 distributed to pupils in primary schools under the state government’s declared State of Emergency on education.

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Makoda emphasized that parental support, including the donation of instructional materials to schools, is vital to the success of educational development, but that the harsh economic realities have made such support nearly impossible.

“Because of the ravaging poverty among parents, they find it difficult to contribute meaningfully to the government’s efforts to develop education in the state,” he said.

According to the commissioner, the problem goes beyond uniforms. Many parents are withdrawing their children from schools and sending them to farms in rural areas, contributing to the growing population of out-of-school children in the state.

“This is why we have a high number of children roaming the streets instead of being in school,” he added.

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Makoda blamed previous administrations for the current decay in the education sector, noting that the Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf-led government inherited a failed and decayed education system.

To address these challenges, the commissioner said the government had significantly increased budgetary allocation to education from 29.75 percent in 2024 to 31.5 percent in the 2025 fiscal year.

“This increase is a clear demonstration of the administration’s commitment to revitalizing education in Kano State, particularly at the primary and secondary levels,” he said.

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Makoda reassured the public that the state government is intensifying efforts to tackle the root causes of the crisis, restore quality, and improve access to education across all communities.