The United Nations Childrens Fund, (UNICEF), has warned that 1.6 million children in the North-East region are not attending school.
UNICEFs Chief of Field Office in Maiduguri, Borno State, Phuong Nguyen, revealed this on Wednesday, during a Foundation Literacy and Numeracy in the North-East seminar held in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
She said: “At least 1.6 million children are out of school in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. Of those in school, 72% cannot read a simple text after grade 6. Without acquiring appropriate foundational and transferable skills, children fail to thrive in school and life.
She stated that UNICEF is dedicated to leaving no child behind in its efforts to accelerate education delivery in Nigeria.
UNICEFs Chief emphasised the importance of collaboration among the government, UNICEF, donor agencies, and other development partners who are already committed to raising awareness of fundamental learning and are eager to share innovative methods learned from implementing these programmes in the region.
According to her, the seminar aims to raise awareness of FLN models and lessons learned from implementing fundamental learning programmes in the North-East, focusing on the regions ongoing humanitarian-development nexus.
Nguyen promised that UNICEF would bring together practitioners and experts, government officials, and civil society to discuss how Nigeria can best foster Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), with a special emphasis on Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), Kanuri, Arithmetic and Reading Intervention (KARI), Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA), and the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP).
