The Osun State Government has rejected claims that there are 297,000 out-of-school children in the state, calling the figure false and a misrepresentation of data. The clarification came in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, who said the number was never presented at a recent media dialogue organised by the ministry and UNICEF. According to the statement, the figure of 297,000 did not appear in any presentation and was not linked to the number of children outside formal education.
The government explained that the data discussed at the event concerned enrolment in two digital learning initiatives: the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) and the Passport to Earn (P2E) schemes. Approximately 97,000 learners in Osun have enrolled on these platforms, a figure that was misinterpreted and inflated in some media reports. These programmes were introduced to expand access to education and provide digital learning and practical skills to children and young people.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the claim linking 297,000 to out-of-school children in Osun is "malicious, damaging, and rejected in its totality." The government also denied that Osun was presented as having the highest number of out-of-school children in the South-West. It urged media organisations to verify information before publication, warning that inaccurate reporting creates public misconceptions about the state's education sector.
The Osun government disputes a number while simultaneously highlighting that only 97,000 learners are enrolled in its flagship digital education programmes. If the 297,000 figure is false, the state has not provided the correct data. For parents and students in Osun, the real concern is not the disputed number but the lack of transparent, verifiable statistics on school access. Without accurate figures, assessing the reach of education policies remains difficult.
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