The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that access and use of the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP), platform by pupils, teachers and young people remain extremely low, as only less than 1% (1,280) of the targets for Kano, has been attained in the last six months.
Disclosing this on Friday, the UNICEF chief of the field office in Kano, Mr Rahma Rihood Farah, while handing over materials to support the learning passport initiative.
Speaking on his behalf on the occasion, the senior education specialist, UNICEF Kano field office, Mr Michel Banda, added that, the target of NLP users for Kano State by December 2023 was 75,000 and reach up to 150,000 users by the end of 2024.
He then maintained that the (NLP) has been rolled out officially in 13 states, active in 18 states with 142,000 users as of March 2023, of which over 69,000 are students.
“UNICEF is working with the federal and states government, to bring the NLP to more children and young people in states, where it is already launched and active, and in new states across the country, with an ambitious goal of reaching 1.5 million users at the end of 2024.
“UNICEF is glad to be part of a solution to learning challenges that face many children today.”
According to him, “through partnerships with Airtel, UNICEF today is glad to witness the handover of these materials which will be enablers to accessing learning beyond the traditional classroom.
“NLP supplements what you learn in class and can be used to do research and do homework,” he said
The chairman state universal basic education board (SUBEB) Kano, Dr Danlami Hayyo represented by the director of salaries and validation, Alhaji Naziru Adamu Wali, reaffirmed SUBEB’s dedication to supporting policies aimed at moving education forward.
He stated that 1,430 tabs, 100 projectors, 100 routers and 100 telephone lines were donated by UNICEF and others, to some selected schools.
While the NLP team lead, Naziru Surajo, noted that the Nigeria learning passport (NLP), scheme had promoted the training of teachers, and targeted the role of students and teachers, for the past year.
Speaking on behalf of benefitting schools, the head teacher of Kurna special primary school, Malam Salisu Abidu, described the donation as a major catalyst to uplifting the standard of education in the state.
UNICEF, Airtel, Microsoft and the Federal ministry of education and other partners provided the items to strengthen the NLP as a national learning system.
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