N2bn spent on introduction of jolly phonics in schools ―UBEC

THE Universal Basic Education Commission has revealed that the Federal Government has invested about N2 billion on the introduction of Jolly Phonics teaching method in schools across the country.

Jolly phonics is fun and child-centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating to children and teachers, who can see their students achieve.

The fund was provided to the State Governments for implementation of the Jolly Phonic project in schools by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) under its teacher professional development fund.

Public Relations Officer of UBEC, Mr Ossom Ossom, who confirmed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said as at March 2018, State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) had utilized funds from UBEC’s Teacher Professional Development (TPD) to the tune of N2,096,332,326.00 (N1,190,148,461.00 in 2015 and N906,183,865.00 in 2016) in the Jolly Phonics project in 31 states.

He said UBEC has been commended by leading educationists from across the world for its outstanding initiatives and collaboration with Universal Learning Solutions in the fight against illiteracy in the country through the fast-track English literacy method –Jolly Phonics.

Ossom said the landmark achievements were recorded through the partnership with the UK-based educational publisher – Jolly Learning Ltd, and the not-for-profit organisation, Universal Learning Solutions.

He disclosed that through this partnership on the Jolly Phonics project over 50,000 teachers in public schools across 31 states in the country have trained and has reached approximately 3.5 million children.

Aside from paying the costs of the transport and feeding for teachers, these funds were also used to deliver a wider implementation model, including local teams of academics setting up WhatsApp groups, giving prizes to the best teachers, setting up teacher leader networks, carrying out state-level publicity and evaluating the impact of the project.

According to him, results of a study from the beneficiary states have highlighted how children taught by Jolly Phonics trained teachers to read and write significantly above those taught by teachers who have not been exposed to the jolly phonics method.

Dr Louise Gittins from York University, UK, said: “The results of my recent research in Nigeria have highlighted how the Jolly Phonics project is leading to wide-scale positive changes in the education sector in Nigeria.

“Teachers are able to see the results in their classroom very quickly and this acts as a great form of motivation and encouragement for them. The results are seeing more and more parents send their children to government schools, often at the expense of the private schools, which is quite remarkable,” he said.

The UBEC spokesperson, further revealed that Vice-President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister for Schools in the UK, Nick Gibbs, have commended the success of the project in Nigeria.

He also noted that a philanthropic support for the project to the value of £11 Million has been provided by Chris Jolly, the Managing Director of Jolly Learning.

He said further that the copyright to produce the Jolly Phonics materials in Nigeria has also been provided freely with UBEC now printing and distributing hundreds of thousands of copies of the materials across the states.

Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, also expressed delight over the success recorded on the project, saying “UBEC is proud of the achievements of the Jolly Phonics project as noted in the most recent impact report provided to us by Universal Learning Solutions.