280,000 Nigerian Children, Others Benefit From UNICEF’s Support Learning Passport
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) on Friday said with the support of other partners, about 280,000 learners, teachers, parents and young people across Nigeria so far benefited from its learning passport.Nigeria Learning Passport is an online e-learning platform with mobile and offline capabilities that enables continuous access to quality education.According to this UN organisation, the learning support became necessary
to expand access to quality learning for children in Nigeria so they can contribute meaningfully to the Country’s desired development.
Country Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Ms Cristian Munduate who stated this on the sideline of this year’s commemoration of the Day of African Child held at Local Education Authority (LEA) Sheik Abubakar Gumi Primary School, Tudun Wada Kaduna added that Children in Africa need opportunity to acquire sound education, good health and nutrition in their early years.
To her, the best way to celebrate the day of African Child is with education, “once the child reaches five years survival and his or her health and nutrition are in place, the next investment is quality education”.
She said, “if we want a prosperous nation, prosperous Nigeria and Prosperous Africa, we have to put children first, because it is where everything starts for the good and not for the bad”.
She however called on government to expand access to the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) for children in Nigeria, urging stakeholders and the media to raise awareness on its existence and benefits to increase use of the platform.
The Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Dr Haliru Soba remarked that the State Government with the support of development partners like UNICEF, was committed to providing basic skills to all children in numeracy, literacy and digital skills.
Soba believed that, the Nigeria learning passport would not only help the children to learn numeracy and literacy skills, but would also avail them an opportunity to acquire digital skills.