Some local governments in Kano State, North-West Nigeria, have recorded notable improvements in literacy and mathematics following the support of the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE).
PLANE is an education programme funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
It is a seven-year Programme working with the federal and target state governments to improve learning outcomes by strengthening education systems to deliver foundational skills.
The partnership recently supported the conduct and dissemination of findings from an assessment conducted after two years of intervention to improve the delivery of basic education in target LGAs in Kano State.
The findings indicated that, in Kano State, the programme’s foundational and accelerated learning initiative has reached a total of 265,011 children across 11 LGAs and 1,112 schools.
Data collated through PLANE’s assessment and data received from School Support Officers showed that in PLANE-supported LGAs in Kano, about 25% of schools have only one teacher to teach all six primary grades.
Data also showed that schools in these LGAs have an average of 131 children per teacher, which is close to four times UNESCO’s recommended Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 35:1.
“Both teachers and learners demonstrated high levels of absenteeism, and in about 79% of Kano classrooms, most children do not have pencils or exercise books.”
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The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Education Adviser Joseph Wales said, “PLANE and the British Council have demonstrated the potential of these approaches to improve learning outcomes despite significant challenges. Now we must use these as a catalyst for working in partnership at all levels in Kano – community, LGA and state – in order to improve education for all.”
The Deputy National Team Lead of PLANE, Sam Achimugu commended the commitement of Kano Government to implementation.
He said, “the Kano State Government has been very committed and PLANE has been engaging closely to ensure that the progress we have made so far is sustained and scaled up.”
The Secretary, Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Hajia Amina Umar, expressed the commitment of Kano State government in the education sector through improved budgetary allocation and the declaration of a state of emergency on the sector.
PLANE, since its inception, has reached over one million learners across Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa states with interventions aimed at strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy skills and improving education delivery.
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