UNICEF identifies causes of Nigeria’s learning crisis

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that the learning crisis is stalling development in the country, calling for foundational learning skills to correct the trend.

Mrs. Yetunde Oluwatosin, UNICEF education specialist, said this at a media workshop on foundational literacy and numeracy on Wednesday in Benin, Edo.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the workshop has as its theme “Turning the tide on Nigeria’s Learning Crisis: A South-West Media Dialogue on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.”.

The workshop was organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Edo State SUBEB, Edo state Ministry of Education and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Lagos State Directorate

Oluwatosin said that 73 percent of 10-year-olds in Nigeria were still having the challenge of reading or comprehending simple text, while 9 out of 10 kids in Sub-Saharan Africa were trapped by learning poverty.

She also said that only 63 percent of children under 5 years old, mostly in rural areas and in the north, participated in organised learning.

She said that this had led to late primary school entry and poor learning outcomes.

The UNICEF education specialist noted that 3 out of 4 children in Nigeria could not read with meaning or solve simple mathematical problems.

According to her, 73 percent of Nigerian youths are literate, while only 7 percent have the ICT skills needed for working and learning in the digital economy.

Oluwatosin said that limited infrastructure, an insufficient supply of teachers, and limited learning data, especially on proficiency levels, are some of the reasons for this.

She said that UNICEF was improving the quality of teaching and learning materials, adding that UNICEF has reached more than 1.8 million children with learning materials between 2018 and 2022.

Oluwatosin said that UNICEF was planning to reach another 4.8 million by 2027, primarily in the north.

She noted that foundational learning skills were needed to stop the learning crisis trend and improve learning outcomes in primary schools in Nigeria.

In her remarks, Ms. Blessing Ejiofor, UNICEF Communication Officer, appealed to the media to use their influence to sway policies and decisions that are aimed at improving learning outcomes for children in Nigeria.

Ejiofor said she was looking forward to media reports that would aid understanding and influence positive actions from decision-makers to leverage both financial and non-financial resources to reduce learning poverty.

Speaking, Dr. Joan Oviawe, Edo State Commissioner for Education, applauded UNICEF's efforts at reducing learning poverty in the state.

Oviawe, who noted that the state has been doing a lot to compliment UNICEF efforts, said that the state had embarked on a mass literacy initiative, especially for the “out-of-school population”.

“We acknowledge all that UNICEF has been doing; on our part, we engage artisans under the mass literacy initiative and learn by correspondence to teach them how to read and write.

“We also introduced technology into our learning agenda and distributed learning tablets for students and teachers to encourage them and ensure that the learning activities are well structured and centralised.

“The special students are also captured in this initiative, and the idea is to ensure total inclusiveness in our education agenda,” She added.

NAN reports that more than 70 journalists from the South-West zone are taking part in the two-day workshop.