The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Field Office North East Nigeria, Phuong T. Nguyen has said, at least 1.6 million children are out of school in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
Nguyen added that among those in school, 72% could not read a simple text after Grade 6, stressing that “without acquiring appropriate foundational and transferable skills, children fail to thrive in school and in life.”
The Chief of Field Office who stated this in a welcome address, Wednesday, in Maiduguri, explained that UNICEF would not allow any child to be left behind in the effort to accelerate education delivery in Nigeria.
She added that the government, UNICEF, donor agencies and other development partners were already committed to increasing awareness on fundamental learning and excited to share innovative methods learned from the implementation of the programmes in Nigeria.
Nguyen noted that UNICEF in collaboration with the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe state governments have convened a knowledge sharing seminar on scaling Fundamental Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in North-east Nigeria.
The seminar is aimed of promoting awareness of FLN models and lessons from the implementation of fundamental learning programmes in the region with special consideration on the ongoing humanitarian development nexus in the region.
