UNICEF has provided training to 18,000 unqualified teachers in Nigeria’s Northeast in a 12-month course to improve the standard of education in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.
UNICEF Chief of the Maiduguri field office, Phuong Nguyen, reported that only 29 per cent of teachers in the Northeast region have the minimum qualifications required for teaching.
The programme – which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Teachers Institute (NTI), and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria – now allows nearly 1.9 million boys, girls, and youth who have been affected by conflict to have access to quality learning in the region.
The newly certified teachers are equipped with modern and effective teaching methods, including the skills to provide gender-sensitive and psychosocial support to learners.
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Northeast Nigeria has been struggling with a low standard of education, with less than 50 per cent of children completing their primary school education in the region.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS 2012) also indicate that about 56 per cent of all displaced children in the region are not attending school. Furthermore, almost half of all schools in the area require rehabilitation, and the average pupil-teacher ratio is 124 to 1.
UNICEF’s programme is also targeting access to education, with at least 50 schools being renovated and 50 learning spaces being built.
The project is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims to provide inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
