UNESCO, NMEC in fresh bid to boost literacy

At a parley with about a dozen commissioners of education from the northern states of Nigeria held in Abuja recently, the two agencies outlined the challenges facing the mass literacy campaign in Nigeria and possible solutions, chief among which is inadequate funding.“The objective is to get sustained funding for mass literacy programmes especially at states […]

At a parley with about a dozen commissioners of education from the northern states of Nigeria held in Abuja recently, the two agencies outlined the challenges facing the mass literacy campaign in Nigeria and possible solutions, chief among which is inadequate funding.
“The objective is to get sustained funding for mass literacy programmes especially at states and local government levels. The implementation is usually at those two levels so we have called the commissioners to address them,” The Executive Secretary of NMEC, Alhaji Jibril Paiko, said.
He said the principal challenge is not only a shortage of facilitators, but a debilitating lack of funds that has seen many of the facilitators not getting payment for their efforts.
He also mentioned the security challenge especially in the north-east, as one of the major factors militating against the campaign.
There is an estimated 35 million people in Nigeria who cannot read nor write, Minister of State for Education Chief Nyesom Wike had said last year.
 UNESCO’s Senior Programme Specialist, Dr Saidu Sireh Jallow, said the programme is designed for the entire country but the decision to start with the northern states was as a result of the prevalence of illiteracy in the region.
However, he said the literacy levels are not blanket in the north as states like Kogi, Kano, Plateau and Kaduna can compare favourably with states the south.
He said UNESCO has been heavily involved in designing programmes, building teachers’ capacity and providing training and research handbooks for tackling illiteracy but since implementation is at government level, it is important to bring in the commissioners for a parley.
But the governments of the northern states are not taking this challenge lightly. This is according to Gombe State Commissioner of Education of Education, Hajiya Aisha M.U Ahmed.
“Members of the Northern Governors Forum have expressed their commitment to tackle the literacy problem,” she said.
Coming away from the meeting, she has realised that apart from the emphasis on literacy, there is also a need for vocational education.
“I realise the importance of including vocational education in the training. All along we have concentrated on the literacy aspect. We will also work on passing literacy by radio,” she said.
But in reality, the challenges differ from state to state. This was something the experts acknowledged and the various commissioners agreed with.
In the Federal Capital Territory for instance, the literacy rate is very high but the Education Secretary, Alhaji Kabiru Usman says they are facing a different problem.
“Here in the FCT we are extremely lucky. Majority of the residents have gone to school. The literacy level is very high and that is why we have the least number of children out of school,” he said.
However, an estimated 24, 000 children are out of school in the capital and Alh. Usman says they are working on getting them to school.
“We are looking around to for those 24, 000 children to educate them and we have been building classes in line with this objective. Our main challenge is the number of people coming into the FCT,” he added.
For him, the model of teaching literacy and vocational skills is something that have been put into practice to great effect in the capital.
But far away in Yobe, one of the states heavily affected by the insecurity in the country, the commissioner of Education, Alhaji Muhammad Lamin said there are areas of the state they can’t access due to the security situation.
Regardless, he said, they are not compromising on adult literacy.
“If the adults are educated, then you won’t have illiterate children running around and creating havoc because an educated parent will not allow his child to be uneducated,” he said.
Regarding the programmes UNESCO and NMEC have tabled, the commissioner said, “The entire country will benefit from this programme if implemented.”
This is the first of such parleys UNESCO and NMEC have organised with commissioners of education. The next sessions will involve commissioners from other regions of the country.