Gom Mirian
In a bid to tackle illiteracy and promote education, the Policy House International, in partnership with the Social and Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDC), Ready to Lead Africa (RTLA) and TiFA-CDI, have set a roadmap to end the out-of-school children crisis in Nigeria by 2027.
Out-of-school children crisis is a major problem in Nigeria. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are an estimated 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the highest number in any country in Africa. It is caused by several factors, including poverty, conflict and discrimination.
The Executive Director of Policy House International, Taiwo Akerele, said this on Friday in his message to mark the 2023 Literacy Day with the theme: ‘Promoting Literacy for a World in Transition: Building the Foundation for Sustainable and Peaceful Societies.’
Akerele aasserted that the four-year strategic roadmap developed by a team of experts from the four organisations was an important step in tackling the underlying issues contributing to Nigeria’s epidemic of out-of-school children.
He said: “The strategy includes the following key priorities: Investment in identified infrastructure, including ICT; Increased teacher training, recruitment, and targeted deployment; Incentives for parents in the most vulnerable regions; investment in curriculum and prioritization of STEM, and encouraging nutrition and school feeding.
“It also calls for the enrollment of 11,341,854 children in school, the construction of 89,900 new classrooms, the training and deployment of 48,000 teachers, the deployment of 92,000 offline tablets, and the provision of complimentary financing of $400 million. If implemented effectively, the strategy could help to ensure that every child in Nigeria has access to quality education.”
According to the organisations, the strategy will be put into practice in 20 states of Nigeria, which are home to 75 per cent of the country’s out-of-school children. Government, funders, and other stakeholders are being urged by the groups to support the strategy’s execution.
International Literacy Day is celebrated every year on September 8 to raise awareness of the importance of literacy.
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