How literacy efforts will yield desired results

The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) held a two-day workshop with stakeholders in Kaduna to review and develop a policy guideline for the delivery of mass literacy. In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NMEC, Prof Abbah Abubakar Haladu, said the objective of the workshop was to review documents on […]

The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) held a two-day workshop with stakeholders in Kaduna to review and develop a policy guideline for the delivery of mass literacy.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NMEC, Prof Abbah Abubakar Haladu, said the objective of the workshop was to review documents on mass literacy.

“The singular objective of this meeting is to carefully review the present draft document and develop it into a unified, credible and generally acceptable policy document so as to meet up with the present reality of the 21th Century as it affects the implementation of mass literacy, adult and non-formal education in the country,” he said.

Prof. Haladu said since the inception of the commission there had been multiple yet fragmented documents which, “…unfortunately do not amount to a national policy guideline for mass literacy, adult and non-formal education in the country.”

He said since 2012 the commission had attempted to harmonise the strategy and policy official papers into a single document which gave rise to the present draft policy guideline and that there was increase in the number of youth and adult illiterates in the country: further saying with over 60 million youth and adult illiterates in the country, illiteracy remained a serious challenge with high consequences for Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

He said the high youth and adult illiteracy figure was compounded by the 11.5 million out-of-school children, which he said might in the future bloat the country’s adult illiteracy population; and that a significant number of children currently enrolled in schools might not acquire the necessary basic literacy.

However, he emphasised the importance of providing vocational and entrepreneurial skills to the large number of unemployed youths across the country.

Prof. Haladu further described adult literacy and non-formal education as costly, saying enough resources were needed to hire part-time facilitators, provide teaching and learning materials, and for the mobilisation of learners and other stakeholders, as well as monitoring and evaluation programmes.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of Nomadic Education Commission, Prof Bashir Usman, said the review of the policy guideline was a step in the right direction.

Prof. Usman, who described the gesture as a laudable initiative, said the meeting would address challenges affecting mass literacy delivery.

He urged the participants to come out with documents that would make NMEC to move forward; and that at the end of the review there would be teamwork between agencies that were concerned with the efforts to promote education.

Also speaking at the workshop, member representing Funtua/Dan-dutse Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Dan-dutse Muktar Muhammad, disclosed that the house would soon enact a law on mass literacy, literacy and adult education.