Bauchi govt. launches NEI Plus Teaching/ Learning Materials and Teachers Training programme

From: Ruth David , Bauchi
Northern Education Initiative Plus, a United States Agency for International Development USAID funded project, in collaboration with the Bauchi State government has officially launched 1,269,837 copies of Teaching and Learning Materials as well as the training of 6,000 Teachers in the state.

Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar launched the Teaching and Learning materials and Teachers Training programme, organized by the State’s Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB at the Government House in Bauchi.

According to him, his administration was making efforts through the Ministry of Education and other education agencies like the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, State Agency for Mass Education, BASAME and Nomadic Education to create an avenue for out of school children to access education through formal and non-formal education system.

Governor Abubakar said that the Northern Education Initiative Plus, had through the support of SUBEB trained 20 master trainers and 240 trainers of teachers and the clustering training for class teachers, adding that ,” our goal is to use education to reduce poverty, illiteracy and improve access to information and translate all these into tools for peaceful co-existence among the people”

“Also, the effort by Northern Education Initiative of strengthening existing strategies, policies and programmes will address barriers to school participation and improve early grade reading in English and Hausa as the two languages are the main medium of communication in schools,” he said.

In his address, the Chief Party of NEI Plus Dr James Statman, revealed that the books were developed by over 100 international and Nigerian experts in pedagogue, Hausa and English Languages and would be distributed in more than 100 locations in the state.

Dr Statman said that the unique thing about the project is that it made provision for out of school children to be carried along in the project even as focus is on teaching them skills that would make them self-reliant.

He commended the state government for demonstrating the right leadership commitment towards the project and expressed the hope that the materials would improve the reading culture among pupils in the state.

The State Chairman of SUBEB, Yahaya Ibrahim Yero, in his address, said that the Teacher Professional Development Training is targeting 6,079 teachers and Head Teachers in 1,751 Primary Schools in the10 NEI Plus Intervention Local government areas of the state.
Yero also commended the state government for providing the 2014 and 2015 Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC matching grants to the tune of N1.8 billion.