The Universal Basic Education Commission has warned that limited access to early childhood education is contributing to poor learning outcomes, with about 10 million Nigerian children aged 36 to 59 months currently outside early childhood care, development and education programmes.
UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr Aisha Garba, gave the warning during a three-day capacity-building workshop for state actors in Abuja.
Represented by the commission’s Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Rasaq Olajuwon Akinyemi, Garba said only 35.6 per cent of children in the age group attended any form of early childhood education, while 46 per cent of children aged 24 to 59 months were developmentally off track, according to the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.
She added that about 70 per cent of Nigerian 10-year-olds could not read and understand a simple text, while only 2.4 million of the 5.9 million children entering primary school annually remained in the education system through the end of junior secondary school. Garba said early childhood development therefore required coordinated action across education, health, nutrition, sanitation, social welfare and local government.
Garba urged states to include early childhood interventions in their State Matching Grant Action Plans, warning that programmes left out would not receive funding, procurement or monitoring attention. She extended the deadline for submission of the plans from September 30 to October 5 and called for the inclusion of children with disabilities and those in nomadic, riverine, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities.
UBEC Acting Director of Special Programmes and Early Childhood, Dr Chijioke Onwuzurike, said Nigeria had more than 45 early childhood development delivery channels across different sectors, but their multiplicity had created fragmentation and inconsistent services. She said states were expected within 18 months to map and streamline the platforms, improve coordination and strengthen frontline workers’ capacity for screening and follow-up.
UNICEF Nigeria Education Specialist, Yetunde Oluwatosin, said stronger early childhood development was essential to tackling the country’s out-of-school challenge. She said UNICEF had supported the Federal Government in developing early childhood development policy, minimum standards and curriculum, while the three-day workshop was designed to strengthen state-level planning, financing, implementation, monitoring, data management and community engagement.
Meanwhile, students of Federal Unity Schools have returned to classrooms following the suspension of an industrial action linked to disagreements over the proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos. Former NBA President and King’s College alumnus, Olumide Akpata, said the Ministry of Education had established a high-powered committee to engage stakeholders, including the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, and clarify concerns surrounding the arrangement. He said the proposed concession currently applies specifically to King’s College and involves a proposed N100bn investment from the school’s old boys’ community.
