UNICEF Says No Teaching Materials In Over 60% Public Classroom In Borno, Three Other States

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that over 60 percent of classrooms of public Junior Secondary Schools in Borno, Kano, Kaduna and Kebbi have no teaching materials.

Chief of Education of UNICEF Nigeria, Saadhna Panday-Soobrayan, disclosed this at a 2-day National Conference on the Learning Crisis in Nigeria on Wednesday.

Panday-Soobrayan also disclosed that the learning gaps persist in the country which is most severe in the Northern part of the country, adding that only 10 percent of 7 to 14-year-olds in North West and 12 percent in the North East demonstrate foundational literacy.

She said, “Nigeria’s learning crisis begins in Children’s earliest years as only half of Nigeria’s children are developmentally on track in early childhood. And only 60 per cent participate in organised pre-primary learning.” 

UNICEF’s Chief of Education, also lamented that the quality of teachers in the country is limited by poor pedagogical skills and lack of teaching and learning materials, disclosing that only 84 percent of primary pchool teachers and 59 of JSS teachers are qualified.

She disclosed that the teacher workforce in the country suffers from severe shortfalls, adding that Nigeria has a shortfall of approximately 195,000 teachers at the primary level.

She also stated that under-investment in quality education in Nigeria has affected effective action, saying that domestic education financing is chronologically low.

Panday-Soobrayan noted that the aforementioned educational deprivation and learning poverty has stalled progress on achieving all other goals, noting that Sub-Saharan Africa has achieved just 41 percent of SDG 4 commitment.

She stated that a structured pedagogy will improve learning outcomes including scripted lesson plans, teacher support, training and monitoring.

“Structured pedagogy programmes have the largest and most consistent positive average effects on learning outcomes. Pedagogical interventions that tailor teaching to students’ skills are consistently recommended,” she stated.