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HomeEDUCATION64% of Nigerian children not enrolled in early childhood education- UNICEF

64% of Nigerian children not enrolled in early childhood education- UNICEF

Despite prescribing one year of compulsory pre-primary education in its national policy on education, NPE, 64 per cent of Nigerian children are not enrolled in Early Childhood Education, ECE.

Education Specialist of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Yetunde Oluwatosin, who disclosed this in Sokoto at a two-day media dialogue on Early Childhood Education in Nigeria, said the figure represents about 10 million children who are not enrolled in ECE.

Oluwatosin said only one in three children have access to ECE in the country, representing 36 per cent of the children population.

While describing early childhood education as the foundation of learning for all forms of education, she called on authorities to scale up access to improve ECE enrollments across the country.  

She also noted existing lop-sidedness and inequalities in ECE enrolments in the country as only 8 per cent of children from poor households attend early childhood education, while 87 per cent of children from rich homes are enrolled in the programme.

Speaking on challenges affecting ECE in Nigeria, she poor facilities in ECE centres such as toilets, water, lack of classrooms, low public demand, inadequate teachers, as well as teaching and learning materials, among others, were posing.

“It has been observed that large inequalities persist between the poorest children and the richest children’s ECE attendance rate translating to 8 per cent and 87 per cent respectively. Globally, fewer than one in three children ages three to four attend ECE.” In West and Central Africa, only one in four (24 per cent) attend ECE.

“In Nigeria, only one in three children (36 per cent) attend but at least 10 million children are not enrolled. Research has shown that children who attend ECE perform better in academy and have greater earning potential as they grow over the years,” she said.

Also speaking, the Country Coordinator of Early Childhood Development Initiative, ECDI, Dr Amy Panyi, emphasized the use of play-based method to improve children’s eagerness to learn.

Panyi said the move to ensure improved implementation of the ECE is to let the curriculum at the early stage refelct a play-based learning approach that is conducive for child development.

She noted that play-based learning helps children to develop their psychosocial skills, build self-confidence and esteem, improve their critical thinking ability, be innovative and exploitative and become creative.

Earlier, the UNICEF Communication Specialist, Dr Geoffery Njoku, described early childhood education as a thematic child rights issue that deserves the focus of Nigerians and those in authority.

Njoku tasked the media on setting the agender and creating platforms that will enable government and other stakeholders take action to make sure that early childhood education becomes the norm and the practice in Nigeria.

He stressed the importance of the mental development of the child, stating that it is important to inculcate ECE as part of the curriculum from the national educational curriculum to implement a play-based approach to learning among children.

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