The appeal was made by Bhanu Pathak, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Bauchi during a two-day Policy Dialogue on Pre-Primary Education, held at Command Guest House, Bauchi.
The Advocacy meeting was organised by the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in collaboration with UNICEF, Field Office, Bauchi.
Bhanu Pathak said that “Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the early stage of a child is crucial and fundamental as it greatly influences their personality in the early stage of life.
Research has shown that ECD has a lot of benefit to academic achievements, educational progression and attainment in life, therefore imperative to invest in ECD in order to have useful citizens.”
He added that “ECD is a critical tool for the social, technical, and economic development of any nation. It also the best weapon against poverty and ignorance and indeed the only sustainable legacy a child can get from his or her country.”
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He, however, expressed concern that the State has a low number of children in pre-primary schools and low number of primary schools (34 per cent) and schools with pre-primary education in the state.
The UNICEF Chief also explained that the state also has a low number of pre-primary teachers (only 523 and only 287 trained) while Pupil-classroom ratio is not favourable for effective teaching and learning process saying that UNICEF is committed to sustaining support to the state government to ensure quality Education and development of children.
He then assured that UNICEF would work with all arms of government, Civil Society Organisations, development partners, private sector, families and communities to increase support for young children through the existing community system building on the positives practices that already exist.
Bhanu Pathak further said that:” UNICEF aim is that all Nigeria children across the country have better start to life using evidenced-based implementation strategy as a support for national priority to achieving the SDGs for child survival, growth and development.
“We, therefore, need to influence actions around the five core areas of planning and resource allocation, families and communities, curriculum, qualified pre-primary teachers and quality assurance that make pre-primary sub-sector and support of the one-year pre-primary education policy provision in Nigeria’s National Policy for education,” he added.
He concluded that “With the current Policy One year pre-primary education in Nigeria’s National Policy for education, Bauchi State Government should actualize the policy and intensify rigorous campaigns and support of learning materials. Investing in early years shows a generation of children willing and able to guide the generations to follow.”
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