By Muhammad Amaan
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for more investments in Nigeria’s primary education.
The Education Manager, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Michael Banda, made the in Zaria, Kaduna State, during a media dialogue on children’s advocacy priorities for News and Programme Managers from Kano and Katsina and Jigawa states.
According to him, more investments are still needed in the primary school sub-sector, adding that the country still faces the challenge of universal enrollment.
“So, the first problem on education in Nigeria is spending too little money on education, Nigeria is spending 1.2 per cent of its GDP on education. The international benchmark is 4-6 per cent and even the available funds are not being spent well,” he said.
Banda added that presently, a huge amount of money was being spent on higher education, adding, “When children in primary school cannot read, write and count.
“We need to get the budget right and increase the volume of expenditure, the country needs to improve the efficiency of expenditure on primary education.”
The education officer expressed concern with the rate of out-of-school children, and low learning achievement in the country, especially in North-West.
“Nigeria’s education system is faced with the twin crises of a large and growing out-of-school population and severe learning poverty.
“One in three children is out of school (OOS), 10.2 million at primary school level and 8.1 million children at junior secondary level,” he added.
On number of teachers, Banda explained that insufficient domestic financing resulted in a shortfall of 378,000 classrooms and approximately 278,000 teachers.
Earlier, the Communication Officer, UNICEF Field Office Kano, Mr Samuel Kaalu, said the objective of the media dialogue was to engage journalists on children’s advocacy priorities.
He added that the media dialogue was also to create awareness for the media on the importance of first 1000 days to a child’s survival and other UNICEF activities.
