False Generosity and the Out-of-School Children Conundrum in Nigeria: Assessing Media Strategies for Promoting Optimal School Enrolment

Education is a crucial human right, occupying the fourth spot in the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite efforts by governments and donor agencies, Nigeria's educational expectations have not yielded the desired outcomes. With approximately 10.5 million children out-of-school as of January 2022, Nigeria remains among the nations with the highest rates of out-of-school children. Leveraging a combination of a survey with 352 valid responses from diverse demographics, document analysis, and a critical review of extant literature, this study seeks to highlight the dangers of out-of-school children and evaluate the role of the family, government, donor agencies, and media in ebbing the tide of out-of-school children. The study argues that the efforts of governments and donor agencies to eradicate the challenge of out-of-school children are, at best, false generosity and highlights media strategies that are critical towards increasing the enrolment of children in schools. The study goes further to identify handbills, posters, and community radio as the most efficient channels for disseminating information about the importance of formal education and concludes that achieving optimal school enrolment in Nigeria requires a deliberate and sustained programme by the government and diverse donor agencies in which the media has a crucial role to play.