Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, has been commended for supporting the education system through innovations introduced to improve pupil enrollment.
The newly introduced teaching and learning is Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), which is aimed at improving the quality of numeracy activities for out-of-school children who returned to school.
The commendation was made by the Director Schools Services of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Korijo Umar when a team of Journalists, SUBEB and UNICEF Officials visited the Misau Central Primary School, where the program has been implemented on a pilot scheme.
He said that with the introduction of the TaRL approach to teaching and learning, pupils have created more interest in learning, considering the simplicity of the approach.
The Director, Schools Services opined that without the political will of the Governor, the success recorded since the introduction of the approach will not have been possible.
Korijo Umar then assured that SUBEB will intensify supervision, monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the approached achieve its objectives also assuring that the teachers will be recruited based on merit.
Also speaking to Journalists, Executive Secretary of Misau Local Government Education Authority, Alhaji Abdul commended UNICEF and Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for introducing the new education system, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) aimed at improving teaching, learning and enrollment of children in schools.
Alhaji Abdul stated that the introduction of TaRL system of education has improved the education system of the area as children can easily comprehend what they are taught in schools.
He commended UNICEF, SUBEB and other stakeholders for the initiative, saying that the number of out-of-school children in the LGA has reduced drastically, particularly at the Primary 5 and 6 levels.
The Head Teacher of the Misau Central Primary School, Abubakar Bala who also spoke to Journalists said that with the introduction of TaRL system of education, the enrollment drive has significantly improve.
He said that, the number of children enrolled in the school is 1,726.
According to him, “We also had an increase of 285 children that enrolled in the Primary 6 level while 37 children comprising of 17 females and 20 males returned back to school.”
” This is a big achievements for the school which shows that the TaRL system of education is working,” he said.
The Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) designed the special education system which has accommodated out-of-school children who returned to school.
While explaining the TaRL approach to learning and teaching, UNICEF Education Specialist, Abdulraham said that it was introduced in 2018 in Borno state to augment what is done in the schools considering the insurgency that kept children out of school children.
TaRL is an evidence-based educational approach that helps children to develop basic reading and numeracy skills within a short period of time.
The approach works by dividing children into groups based on their learning needs rather than age or grade, the approach also dedicates time to teach the pupils the needed basic skills rather than focusing solely on completion of the curriculum.
The programme is done in collaboration with the School Base Management Committee (SBMC) which members are saddled with the responsibilities of the day to day running of affairs of the school.