In the communities of Northern Nigeria, primary school attendance and academic achievement fall far below national averages due to safety and security issues, lack of educational facilities, and cultural attitudes. As a result, more than 30 percent of school-aged children do not have access to basic education.
The Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI Plus) project is helping to change these numbers. NEI Plus is strengthening the ability of the states of Sokoto and Bauchi to provide access to quality education—especially for girls, orphans, and children enrolled in nontraditional schools—and to improve reading skills for more than 2 million school-aged children and youth.
In Sokoto State, EDC is the lead implementer of NEI Plus as well as the project technical lead for monitoring and evaluation, English early grade reading standards, and technology. Staff activities include the following:
- Strengthening the abilities of local government education authorities to better train and manage teachers; plan, budget, and deliver professional development; ensure school governance; mobilize community support for learning; and ensure timely distribution of materials
- Providing increased access to students for quality EGR instruction
- Training and equipping teachers and learning facilitators and incorporating EGR instruction concepts, techniques, practices, and materials into national teacher training programs
In Year 1, NEI Plus trained 3,140 teachers, head teachers, and nonformal center learning facilitators. NEI Plus is expected to train 16,000 teachers and learning facilitators and to reach nearly 650,000 students in formal and nonformal schools in Sokoto State.