Education
Nigeria key in solving Africa’s learning crisis — Minister
Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, has said the country must be a key voice in the conversations to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mamman spoke during a breakfast meeting at the 2024 Education World Forum, organised by Human Capital Africa, in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa.
At the gathering that brought together African education ministers and key education partners and stakeholders, who collectively renewed commitment to tackle the continent’s learning crisis, the minister asserted that many great programmes in the country, supported by development partners such as United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Bank, must be doubled down on.
Though the programme focused on secondary education, the Minister cited the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project, being expanded across 18 Nigerian states, as a strong example of co-creating unified programmes that should then be replicated at the foundational level.
According to him, if this is done correctly, “everything else will fall into place.”
One key government partner, New Globe Education, has been instrumental in driving transformation across multiple states in Nigeria. By partnering governments, New Globe has shown that systemic reforms and targeted interventions could lead to immediate and significant improvements in student learning outcomes.
In Lagos State’s EKOEXCEL programme, the number of non-readers in Primary Two to Four was halved in over 1,000 public schools in just three years.
The Education Partnership Centre developed the LEARNigeria Remedial Programme to address foundational literacy and numeracy issues. LRP helps children acquire essential skills by starting instruction at their level and using assessment data to design tailored instruction. Early results show significant improvement in children’s literacy and numeracy skills after 24 days of remediation. TEP is now focusing on teacher professional development to enhance their ability to meet learners’ needs.
The event was marked by an unwavering focus on evidence-based approaches to guide policy, measurement and accountability among African leaders and development partners, who passionately called on development partners and stakeholders to scale up successful foundational learning initiatives – such as structured pedagogy and Teaching-at-the-Right-Level – and deliver integrated programmes to ensure cost-efficacy and impactful implementation.
This commitment to scale up successful interventions is a testament to the unwavering dedication of African leaders and partners to address the learning crisis.
The gravity of the learning crisis facing the continent was emphasised at the event. Data shows that nine in 10 African students lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, hindering academic progress, workforce readiness and economic growth.
Ministers and partners committed to leveraging the African Union Year of Education through the July 2024 AU Mid-Year Coordination Meetings in Accra, Ghana, and the FLEX ADEA High-Level Policy Dialogue in November in Kigali, Rwanda, to further champion foundational learning reform and scale successful interventions.
HCA is an organisation that uses evidence to mobilise governments to take action to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Professor of Mathematics Education in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Amos Awodeyi has decried the decline in Mathematics teachers across school systems nationwide.
Awodeyi said the decline in professional mathematics teachers in primary, secondary and tertiary systems in the State, could turn into a dangerous trend if the situation is not addressed in order for the school system to remain atop and able to produce future Mathematics professionals.
The University Don made this known during the 101st inaugural lecture held at the main campus of the institution on Thursday titled, “The Art of Mathematics Education, Development, Research and Teaching; My Journey So Far.”
Awodeyi, who gave an expose on the subject matter stunned participants; students, teachers, school management with discoveries in the world of Mathematics, and charged the students to develop passion and commitment in learning the subject.
“The starting point towards ameliorating the poor performance in mathematics learning and teaching is retraining of serving teachers on teaching documents.
“Further Mathematics should be made compulsory for all secondary school students who aspire to study science, mathematics and engineering at tertiary level of education.
“Teachers should let the mathematics topics make sense to their students; teach with the knowledge of the goals of mathematics teaching in schools, and focus on the objectives of teaching the topics in the classroom; tools and instructional materials should be handy; students should be engaged with relevant activities in the classroom and take home exercises should generate activities for students,” Prof. Awodeyi advised.
Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the inaugural lecture, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo commended the lecturer for his expertise in mathematics describing him as a great asset to the University.
He extolled Awodeyi’s scholarly ingenuity in Mathematics maintaining that he has paid his last due required of every Processor and inducted him into the “Hall of Fame” of the inaugural lecturers of the institution.
Education
Breaking: Authorities of UNIBEN shut down academic activities indefinitely over students’ protest
The authorities of the University of Benin on Thursday shut down academic activities in the institution indefinitely.
The university in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, attributed the decision to the refusal of the students of to shift grounds on their demands.
The students on Wednesday took to the streets, blocking the ever-busy Benin-Ore Highway to protest weeks of power outage on campus.
The students, who had two weeks until their first semester examination, said the situation was severely affecting their preparation.
The students also called for a downward review of transport fare by the UNIBEN shuttle service, which was increased with effect from July 1.
Reports state that the university was thrown into a blackout by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) following the inability to reach agreement over contentious electricity billings.
The monthly bill was said to have jumped from about N80 million to between N200 and N280 million, forcing the university to resort to power generators as well as rationalisation of power on the two campuses and hostels.
When a correspondent spoke with the protesting students amidst heavy rainfall, they were hellbent on continuing the rampage unless their demands are met.
“Following the insistence of students of the University of Benin to shift grounds on their demands for twenty four hours supply of electricity and more, considered unrealistic by the University’s Senate, the University has shut down academic activities indefinitely.
“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately while all the relevant units of the University are to take note and comply.
“However, non teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shut down,” said the university’s spokesperson.
By Udodirim Oti, Awka
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University Chapter, yesterday marched in protest over unpaid wages, breached agreements with governments and proliferation of universities in the country, among others. During the protest, the members chanted solidarity songs with their leadership for championing their cause and interest while displaying placards within the university premises.
Some of the inscriptions in the placards read: “Stop Suffocating University Lecturers,” “Pay Us Fairly,” “FG, Stop Deceiving Nigerian Lecturers,” “We Deserve Better Pay,” “We Teach, We Deserve Our Pay.”
Addressing the press shortly after the protest march, the Chairman of ASUU-NAU Chapter, Comrade Kingsley Ubaoji hinted that the idea to limit the protest to the premises of the institution was to avoid a situation where infiltrators would hijack it and breach law and order.
Ubaoji observed that the Federal Government under the Bola Tinubu administration is yet to engage fully with the union to address all outstanding issues with ASUU decisively.
Ubaoji who spoke in company of his executives also listed other demands to include Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, implementation of the Prof. Nimi Briggs Report; funding for the Revitalisation of Public Universities based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012, 2013, and the MoA of 2017 and release of the 3½ months of the withheld salaries
According to him, the Union is desirous of release of unpaid staff salaries on sabbatical, adjunct, etc., due to IPPIS, release of third-party deductions, implementation of UTAS in place of IPPIS, implementation of the Reports of the Visitation Panels, illegal dissolution of Governing Councils in Federal and State Universities and proliferation of public universities
The others, he noted, were partial payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) and non-victimisation of devoted union members and other victories which were made possible by ASUU struggles and strike actions.
The Unionist revealed that the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement has been a recurrent decimal in all ASUU industrial actions since 2009, lamenting that “no government had taken the renegotiation seriously, but during the life of the past administration, negotiation came to a conclusion with the Nimi Briggs Committee.”
“A document was produced, but the minions in the corridors of power refused to pass it on to the then President for his consideration and approval. Since then no tangible outcome has been recorded in spite of the constructive recommendations of the Committee.”
In this respect, he said the union, therefore, was demanding that all renegotiations of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement be rounded off based on the Nimi Briggs Committee resolutions.
He disclosed that the salaries of Academics in Nigeria have not been reviewed since 2009 to the point that, for over 14 years, they have been on a static salary structure despite the country’s increasing inflation rate
He maintained the stand of the Union that “based on the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2012 and 2013 and the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2017, the revitalisation of our public universities remains a top priority if Nigerian universities and academics would remain competitive.”
The ASUU boss called on the Tinubu-led Government “to do the needful by reversing its decision on the University Governing Councils dissolution,” noting that the “union maintains that the proliferation of public universities without provisions for adequate funding and infrastructure does not augur well for our university system.”
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