The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has supported the validation and registration of 20,800 Almajiri children to the social register in Katsina State.

Hajiya Rabi Mohammed, the Head of Operations, State Operation Coordination Unit (SOCU), revealed this in Katsina on Wednesday at the quarterly Social Protection Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting.

She added that the exercise was carried out in three local government areas for future interventions.

According to her, no fewer than 5,882 Almajiri children were registered in Kafur LGA, in Mani LGA 8,318, while in Safana LGA they registered 6,106.

Similarly, she noted that during the exercise they had also captured about 131 Almajiri from Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Bauchi, and Zamfara.

The SUCO head of operations further revealed that out of the almajiri children integrated, 43.97 per cent are males, while the females are 56.3 per cent.

“During the exercise, we have also captured almajiris living with special needs and their needs, and also their sources of food, especially those that fed themselves, by their parents or by their teachers.

 “Among them, those with Junior Secondary Education (JSE) certificates are 1,397, those with no qualifications are 12,362, those with primary certificates 6,311, and those with Senior Secondary Education (SSE) 221.

“Age distribution of the children, 5-10 years of age are 8,208, 11-15 years, 10,309 vulnerable children, 16-20 years, 1,671, and those between the ages of 21-25 years are 103.

 “During the exercise, we had sensitization and mobilization activities for the stakeholders, and also training of the enumerators,” according to her.

 She also revealed that during the validation and integration, they understood that most of the children don’t want to stay out there, but have no option because their parents insisted.