As part of efforts to mitigate illiteracy, Yobe state is targeting 40, 000 almajiris and 25, 000 girls for enrollment in its learning centres this year.
Chairman Yobe State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) represented by the director social mobilization of the board Sama’ila Machina stated this Monday during the opening ceremony of master trainers workshop organized for teachers of the state by the board in collaboration with world Bank and Northern Education Initiative (NEI Plus) held at Riveredge hotel, Bauchi.
He said the state has at present 800 learning centres for the almajiris where they will be taught reading, writing and simple arithmetics and 500 learning centres for the girls child under the world Bank supported Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) program.
According to him, the bank has already approved the sum of 3 million dollars for the state to implement the program.
Machina also stated that the state has adopted hausa language as medium of instruction in primary schools in the state adding that the idea is aimed at making learning easy for children especially those in primary 1 and 3 when they are taught in their ‘mother tongue’.
Machina who is also the focal officer of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) program for Yobe state explained that the use of the mother tongue in schools which is tagged ‘Early Grade Reading’ targets 81, 116 pupils and will commence in the 2019/2020 academic session in the state.
According to him, BESDA is a world Bank supported program in 17 northern states including Yobe designed to assist out of school children like ‘almajiris’ and the girl child to acquire modern education.
The gesture he pointed out was meant to eradicate literacy in the state.
