Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The federal government has planned to reach 12 million learners in the country by 2025 following its partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Microsoft and the Global Partnership for Education ( GPE) under the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) initiative.

It was as Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo said, to ensure continuity of learning for all children, the country must change and reinvent the education sector.

Osinbajo said so at the official launch of the program in Abuja yesterday.
The NLP, which is an online, mobile and soon to be offline platform, which would enable continuous access to quality education, aims to reach three million learners by 2022 and 12 million learners in the country by 2025.

It has been designed for pre-school, primary and secondary learning, giving children, young people and teachers access to a digitized curriculum with learning materials in all core subjects from first to second grade. sixth primary, and all first and secondary classes.

Osinbajo, who was represented at the event by the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said there has been significant improvement in the sector but access to learning remains a big challenge.

“Over the past decade, Nigeria has made great strides in improving access to education. Over the past five years, participation in pre-primary school has increased from 45% to 61%, primary school enrollment has increased by five million. The rate of out-of-school children decreased by 10%, from 42% to 32%.

“These are phenomenal achievements, but access to school is not synonymous with learning. Nigeria faces a learning crisis. Millions of children and young people are not even developing the basic skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty due to the destruction of school and learning by relentless security, COVID-19 as well as more recent attacks.

“To ensure the continuity of learning for all children and the resilience of education systems to future shocks, we must change and reinvent the education sector.”

He added: “It has become imperative to deploy innovations that rethink current methodologies, including new approaches to delivering education in ways that challenge the digital divide and ensure continuity of learning in emergencies. .

“This launch has laid the foundation for creating an education system where digital technology will be used to transform the way learning is delivered and meet the needs of every child. The NAP is an effective tool for ensuring continuity of learning through access to the curriculum.

For his part, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Hawkins, said the platform could be quickly rolled out, customized and scaled up nationwide, including in areas with low connectivity.

He noted that the digital platform would reach over 89% of learners who do not have access to computers at home and over 82% of learners who do not have internet access in Nigeria.

“It is also an effective tool for accelerating national reforms to provide quality learning opportunities for more children, anytime and anywhere.

“Before COVID-19, access to quality education was already deeply unequal Abo, we know that in Nigeria, 28 million children are in school and NOT learning at appropriate levels.

“Unfortunately, learning does not always equip our young people with the skills to excel in today’s world if we are to achieve the ambition of SDG4, then we need to reinvent education, and the deployment of ‘innovations like the Learning Passport will help get us there.

“With 65.6 million people between the ages of 10 and 24, Nigeria has one of the largest youth populations in the world, which presents an extraordinary opportunity for development and growth,” he said.

Also speaking, Education Minister Malam Adamu Adamu said the platform would be an effective tool for learning in the country.

The Minister, represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, David Gende, urged the private sector to get involved and ensure the sustainability of the project.