When the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) made public the 2010 out-of-school data which indicated that 10.5m Nigerian children are not in school, there was reasonable outcry. Several Nigerians found it too hard to bear.
But, as with most issues in the Nigerian public space, most commentators failed to look at the entire picture, preferring to focus on the news item at the face value.
Indeed, beyond the issue of out-of-school children is the larger social challenge of the illiterate youth and adult population threatening development in our country. It is with this in mind that President Goodluck Jonathan, right at the inception of his administration, worked out a comprehensive implementation programme to ensure that the nation exists in the comity of nations with a large literate population.
Included in this programme are the Almajiri Education Programme, Girl-Child Education Programme, Special Vocational Programme for Boy-Traders in the South-South and South East, Radio Literacy Programme for Adult illiterates, Market Education Programme for traders and the UNESCO train-the-trainers programme being facilitated by the over N1billion deposited with UNESCO by the Jonathan administration.
The mass literacy programme funded by the Federal Government but being executed by technocrats of UNESCO is by far one of the most important projects ever embarked on by Nigeria in its quest to eradicate illiteracy in the country. It is a programme that has been carefully planned using existing empirical data for the purpose of ensuring that over a specified period of time, illiteracy in Nigeria is reduced to the lowest percentage possible.
Indeed, an appreciable progress has been made by the country in reducing the number of out of school children through the programmes already listed in this piece. It is believed that when UNESCO Institute of Statistics, UIS, releases its next data, as the one in the public domain is for 2010, the substantial reduction would be reflected. However, at present, the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with her parastatals and states is conducting a survey to get the actual number of out-of-school in view of the recent massive enrollments that have been witnessed all of the country.
To underscore the importance the Federal Government attaches to mass literacy programme, the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, recently held an assessment meeting with UNESCO officials at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters. This meeting was thrown open to journalists from the print and electronic media.
The meeting x-rayed the progress and challenges of the collaborative programme between the Federal Ministry of Education and UNESCO aimed at reducing mass literacy through the training of trainers and facilitators by UNESCO technocrats and consultants drawn from the nation’s universities, National Teachers Institute, (NTI), and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
The UNESCO team at the meeting included Director of the Bureau for the Development of Education in Africa, BREDA, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Dr. Ann-Therese Ndog-Jatta, the Officer in Charge of UNESCO Abuja Office, Prof. Hassana Alidou and Dr Saidou Jallow, National Programme Officer in charge of UNESCO in Abuja.
The meeting which was frank and transparent, brought to the fore the positive impact of the collaborative programme between UNESCO and the Federal Government on the mass literacy programme. It afforded the two parties the opportunity to re-appraise their contributions to the programme and point out areas that require immediate action to improve results.
Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, declared at the meeting that President Goodluck Jonathan is fully committed to the elimination of all forms of illiteracy from the nation through harnessing its high level partnership with local and international development partners. According to him, there is no way meaningful development can take place in the face of illiteracy.
He stated that the administration’s programmes in the areas of Almajiri, girl-child, boy-child, adult literacy and non-formal education programmes are all geared towards eradicating all forms of illiteracy from the nation.
He said: “If previous administrations had worked towards eradicating illiteracy the way President Goodluck Jonathan has done in the past two years, we would substantially tackled this challenge. However, I am happy we are making serious progress with our direct partnership with UNESCO and we shall continue to build on the successes already recorded”.
Barr. Wike noted with satisfaction the train-the-trainer programme being executed by UNESCO for the Federal Ministry of Education, pointing out that the programme will help in building capacity of literacy facilitators across the country.
He said that the programme is also aimed at re-vitalizing adult literacy with emphasis on skills development and wealth creation for the empowerment of less privileged Nigerians. He assured UNESCO that the Federal Ministry of Education will lead advocacy and awareness creation to State governors and the private sector to ensure that the key into the need to support the efforts of the administration in improving the literacy level of the Nigerian people.
He added that the Federal Ministry of Education will also link up with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to request the wives of state governors to actively participate in adult/youth literacy programmes.
“We still appeal to UNESCO to continue to extend more technical support to us in the area of elimination of illiteracy in our nation. By next year, we shall increase the level of funding for literacy programmes and all mass literacy agencies will be galvanized to take the efforts of the administration to improve our literacy to the next level”, Wike said.
The Director of the Bureau for the Development of Education in Africa, BREDA, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Dr. Ann-Therese Ndog-Jatta, while commending the Federal Government for sponsoring the training of training programmes being organised by UNESCO, declared that with improved commitments from states and local governments, illiteracy can be completely eradicated from the nation.
She said that with the population of Nigeria, if the illiteracy challenge is tackled in the country, it would go a long way in helping the development of the region. She urged the Federal Ministry of Education to work towards engaging the governors and local government areas to pay more attention to literacy programmes.
Officer In Charge of UNESCO Abuja Office, Prof. Hassana Alidou appealed to state governments to improve on the incentives due to trained facilitators to encourage them to render service to Nigerians. She said 500 trainers will be capacitated by UNESCO at the end of July, while 100,000 facilitators would have been trained at the end of year.
She warns states and local governments to open their literacy training centres for these facilitators to carry out the mass literacy programmes they have been trained to do.
However, the most important point to note at the meeting was the fact raised repeatedly by UNESCO officials. That is the failure of states and local governments to take full advantage of the literacy facilitators who have been capacitated in the course of the programme.
The UNESCO officials believe that this is the biggest challenge the programme faces in the country. As the Minister of State for Education and other officials of the Federal Ministry of Education engage with state governments, it is important that officials at this tier of government realise the key role they are to play in eradicating illiteracy in the country.
It is imperative to reiterate that basic education and mass literacy are the functions of the states and local councils. The high percentage of illiterates in the country is as a result of the failure of the states and local councils to live up to their responsibilities. Surprisingly, when analyses are made, commentators conveniently and willfully refuse to hold the states and local councils accountable, preferring to lay the blame at the doorstep of the Federal Government, even when the information of the robust interventions of the Federal Government are out there in the public.
Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education.
0 comments:
Post a Comment