The European Union and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); are to build the capacities of 50 government education officers in the Northeast region.
According to the Fund, the capacity building is to improve the quality of data and evidence-based available to formulate impactful policies in the education sector.
UNICEF’s Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Phuong Nguyen, stated yesterday (Tuesday) in the Borno state capital: “We’re excited to support Governments in the Northeast to gain timely and credible data to support evidence-based planning in the education sector.”
She said that this will drive targeted investments in the region’s education sector.
According to her, the training on Education Management Information System (EMIS) is for the key partners in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.
On the learning needs of vulnerable children, she said: “The capacity building will lead to the generation of credible data and broader indicators,” noting that it will help education managers and policy makers design interventions that meet learning needs of children.
She said for the first time, data on out-of-school children, children attending Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools and non-formal education pathways will be captured.
“They will not only be captured, but stored digitally to improve education planning and targeting services to support girls and boys,” she noted.
Nguyen lamented the protracted security crisis in north-east Nigeria that exacerbated the weakness of basic social services delivery, thereby depriving children the rights to education, protection, and many other critical services.
This is why she said that they are in conflict-affected and educationally disadvantaged in the world.
She said since 2012, 31% of all schools in north-east Nigeria have been hit, at least once by bullets, shells, or shrapnel, adding that 26% of children were targeted by suicide bombers, while 47.3% of schools in the region require rehabilitation.
