NIGERIA has the highest number of school-aged pupils not in the classroom in the world according to the findings of a recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

In the report just published, Nigeria topped the table of 12 problem countries that have a high incidence of school dropout rates with one in every five children not in school. A total of 10.5m Nigerian kids are not in school at the moment, accounting for about 47% of the global total.

Other countries reviewed in the survey include Pakistan (5.1m), Ethiopia (2.4m), India (2.3m), Philippines (1.5m), Ivory Coast (1.2m), Burkina Faso (1m), Niger (1m), Kenya (1m), Yemen (0.9m), Mali (0.8m) and South Africa (0.7m). According to Unesco, of all these countries, Nigeria is one of four that has witnessed an increase since 1999.