UNICEF provides education to 36, 734 out of school children in Borno
By Njadvara MUSA, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with Borno State Government, has provided education to 36, 734 out of school children in the state.
According to the Fund, 20, 104 children have access to the informal education system, while 16, 630 have already transitioned into formal education system across Borno.
The education intervention is supported by the European Union (EU), SUBEB and other implementation partners.
Announcing the integration of children, yesterday (Wednesday), in Maiduguri, UNICEF Education Manager, Paola Ripamonti disclosed that over 29,000 youths gained employment through vocational training.
Besides, she added that 750 members of school-based management committees have also improved school management skills.
She said that 1, 630 teachers and community volunteer teachers were also strengthened in psycho-social support, gender sensitive pedagogy and classroom management for education delivery.
Ripamonti lamented that the education sector in the Northeast was the most hit, destroying over 500 primary schools.
On the EduTrack tool, she disclosed that; “This is an educational intervention project in the state,” adding that it is a mobile phone-based data collection system.
Continuing, he added that the system allows teachers and local points of the school management system to directly send data to education administrators for prompt intervention.
She noted that the system takes advantage of communication infrastructure to strengthen the monitoring of education service delivery.
According to her, it will also improve the quality of education for learning outcomes.
“The EduTrack tool is applied to identify bottlenecks at school level,” she said.
She added that UNICEF piloted the intervention in 10 schools across six Councils in partnership with the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The Director of SUBEB, Ali Dogo, who represented the Executive Board Chairman; noted that there are still many other areas for education intervention.
He said that the northern parts of the state are the most hit by the 13-year Boko Haram insurgency with the killings and torching of 600 teachers and primary schools.
