New USAID activity to improve reading outcomes for 3.5 million Nigerian kids

By YANGE IKYAA

A new investment in education by the United States Mission in Nigeria worth $48.8 million is to provide a better future to millions of Nigerian children and help lead to thriving and prosperous communities throughout country.

On August 30, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) to Read activity in order to improve early grade reading in the West African nation over the next five years.

USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help nations progress beyond assistance. In Nigeria, USAID supports health systems strengthening, transparent and accountable governance, basic education, and a more market-led, trade-friendly economy.

LEARN to Read will contribute to improvement in the reading outcomes of more than 3.5 million children in 5,900 schools and in building the capacity of more than 35,000 teachers and head teachers. It will also aid school support officers to strengthen early grade reading in about 6,000 schools.

“The new USAID activity will ensure that school-age children and youth in Nigeria are able to gain foundational skills, such as literacy and numeracy, safely, while building critical social and emotional skills to progress to higher levels of education, training, and employment,” said the supervisory program office director for USAID-Nigeria, Stephen Menard, during the launch of the learning support activity.

In the words of Goodluck Nana Opiah, who is Nigeria’s minister of state for education, “the federal ministry of education recognizes the efforts of USAID in the last 20 years to improve literacy in Nigeria through its innovative programs.”

The minister also added that “LEARN to Read will build on the close collaboration with the ministry of education, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, and language/curriculum experts to support mother tongue-based medium of instruction in the early grades.”

USAID’s education program focuses on the most vulnerable parts of the population, while supporting the government of Nigeria to deliver quality education.

Key focus areas include increasing enrollment, strengthening basic education, building capacity of teachers and raising minimum academic standards for reading curriculum.

The LEARN to Read activity will build on the gains of the recently concluded USAID-funded Northern Education Initiative (NEI Plus), which improved reading outcomes for more than one million children in Bauchi and Sokoto States.This new initiative by USAID will further strengthen and scale up early-grade reading best practices in both states, which are designated as legacy states.

It will also leverage more state and private resources to infuse global best practices for the teaching and learning of early grade reading in the states.

In addition to supporting the two legacy states, LEARN to Read will again offer technical assistance to two more states designated as launching states, and to at least another two states, designated as on-demand states, as part of USAID’s mission to support education and reach millions more children with lifelong skills across Nigeria.

It is expected that these efforts will help develop a new generation of leaders equipped to help Nigeria meet the development challenges ahead.