In Nigeria, the need for high-quality education is still urgent because most students who enroll in elementary school are reportedly not receiving the necessary education.
Cristian Munduate, the Nigerian country representative for the UNICEF, urged national policymakers to increase support for the education system after stressing the importance of quality education in the nation.
According to a recent study, only one-third of the 1.6 million children recently enrolled in Munduate’s project have good learning achievements.
Three-fourths of that figure still have huge gaps in understanding what they are reading or learning, fluency or even basic mathematical operations.
The solution to bridging that gap, she says is for policymakers to scale up the capacity of teachers and raise awareness in communities of the importance of education.
Addressing the media at the wrap of the UNICEF’s Girls Education Project, GEP3 in Abuja, Munduate warned that quality learning must remain a priority for the government at the national level.
”If you have a child that goes to school, especially a girl, this brings wellness and hope to the family, it will prevent early marriage or teenage pregnancies that lead to complications.
”We no longer want to see girls breeding children and raising babies when they themselves are just children. Our plan is for girls to develop according to their ages.
”There must be zero tolerance for practices that take girls out of school because we are making girls suffer, making them become adults before they are adults”, Munduate said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nanah, in his remarks at the GEP3 closing event, said the federal government plans to explore other opportunities to ensure inclusive and equitable access to quality and functional education, especially for girls.
The Girls Education Project was designed to increase girls’ enrolment, ensure retention till the completion of basic school and emphasise the value of girl-child education to boost their value in the larger society.