More than three point five million children in five thousand nine hundred schools across Nigeria are to benefit from the U.S Agency for International Development, USAID, activity, the Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria, LEARN to Read, to improve early grade reading in the country over the next five years.
Forty-eight point eight million dollar U.S Mission Nigeria investment in education is expected to provide a better future to millions of Nigerian children, and help lead to thriving, prosperous communities throughout Nigeria, as well as contribute to improvement in the reading outcomes of more than three point five million children in five thousand nine hundred schools, and in the capacity of more than thirty-five thousand teachers, headteachers, and school support officers to support early grade reading in about six thousand schools.
According to the Supervisory Program Office Director, USAID Nigeria, Stephen Menard, the new USAID activity, LEARN to Read, will ensure that school-age children and youths in Nigeria are able to safely gain foundational skills, such as literacy and numeracy, while building critical social and emotional skills to progress to higher levels of education, training, and employment.
Speaking at the launch of the activity, the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, said the Federal Ministry of Education recognizes the efforts of USAID in the last twenty years to improve literacy in Nigeria through its innovative programs, adding that LEARN to Read will build on the close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, and language/curriculum experts to support mother tongue-based medium of instruction in the early grades.
USAID’s education program focuses on the most vulnerable parts of the population, while supporting the government of Nigeria to deliver quality education, with key focus areas including to increase enrollment, strengthen basic education, build capacity of teachers, and raise minimum academic standards for reading curriculum.
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