The UK Government, through the British High Commission in Abuja has pledged its continued support to the Jigawa State Government as it held an Education Reform Dialogue with critical stakeholders.
The event, with the theme ‘Repositioning Teaching and Learning for Human Capital Development’, was convened by the Ministry of Basic Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology in Jigawa State.
The pledge was made during a courtesy visit by the British High Commission’s Senior Education Adviser, Ian Attfield, to the Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Umar Namadi.
Jigawa State has set aside more than 2.6 billion naira to recruit, train and induct 6,000 new teachers as well as address learning poverty and other challenges with basic education in the state, including the dearth of teachers and the high prevalence of out-of-school children.
The Senior Education Adviser while pledging the UK Government’s support, commended the formidable steps taken by the new administration to address key strategic issues in Jigawa State’s education sector, especially the current efforts to address the critical shortage of teachers.
Ian Attfield said: “Nigeria is still experiencing a learning crisis, and one of the most vital ingredients that any state or government can do is to supply qualified, motivated and adequately supported teachers. The UK is delighted to see the progress being made across board, under the leadership and vision of Governor Namadi.”
Responding, the Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Umar Namadi, said: “PLANE is a programme which the Jigawa State Government is partaking in, and I want to assure you that just as we sustained reforms of the public financial management systems, we will also continue to sustain whatever reform or intervention you bring to us. We will sustain it and build on it. That is why you can see what we are doing in education in terms of teacher recruitment, deployment, training and retraining and our efforts to reduce the out-of-school children”.
Governor Namadi while appreciating UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) for its interventions in the state noted that it has spanned over two decades, which the state is still reaping the benefits of the Public Financial Management reforms done by the UK Government through the then Department for International Development (DFID).
According to him, the state’s Tsangaya programme is designed specifically to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children and called on FCDO to join hands as it is poised to replicate FCDO’s interventions.
FCDO through the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE) will support the state during the recruitment, training, induction and deployment of the new teachers, also provide technical inputs in materials supply to Jigawa State.
The PLANE is a seven-year programme funded by the UK Government to enable a more inclusive, safe and effective education system in Nigeria.
So far, PLANE has trained 2,361 teachers in the state and donated thousands of literacy and mathematics textbooks to pupils in the state, while also supporting teachers with guides.
The PLANE programme works with federal and state leaders, legislators, education providers, civil society, children and parents in Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Yobe, the south-east and the south-west.
