By; ALEX UANGBAOJE Kaduna
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has reiterated its commitment to advancing access to education for every child and improving quality of teaching in Kaduna State.
Chief of Operations UNICEF Nigeria, Opiyo Nixon, gave the assurance in Kaduna last weekend, during the opening of the 2023 Access Bank, UNICEF Charity Shield International Polo Tournament at Fifth Chukker in Kaduna.
The 2023 Charity Shield International Polo Tournament is part of a continued partnership between UNICEF, Fifth Chucker and Access Bank Group, to increase access to quality education by orphans and vulnerable children in Kaduna State with a view to giving them a chance for a better and quality life in the future.
The initiative began in 2006, is in line with UNICEF’s mandate of advocating for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
The partnership, which targets children and families in greatest need, has been providing support to accelerate access to quality education by disadvantaged children, especially Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in dire need of education in selected communities of Kaduna State.
Under the partnership two schools – LEA Maraban Jos, in Igabi Local Government Area (LGA) and LEA Kakau, in Chikun LGA were adopted and rebuilt, to sustain the provision of quality education to orphans and vulnerable children.
The schools’ infrastructures were upgraded including the provision of toilets, water, and other WASH facilities in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Education (MoE) and Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The initiative, which has put a smile on the faces of the benefiting children and communities over the years, has significantly improved the learning environment and made the schools safe and conducive for teaching and learning. Specifically, the interventions have increased school enrolment in LEA Primary School, Maraban Jos from 8,469 in 2015/2016 school session to 11,476 in 2016/2017 school year, representing 3,007 or 35.5% increase.
Nixon, noted that access to education constitutes the sustainable development goal 4 and UNICEF is working hand in hand with Access Bank, Fifth Chukker and everyone participating in the tournament to contribute and raise resources to support the education of children in Kaduna State.
According to him, “We are raising resources that will go into advancing access to education, improve the quality of teaching and more importantly ensuring that each child has the opportunity to access education in advance development stages within their lives.
“The funds will be plunge back into the schools that has already been established because there are still a lot of gaps that do exist in those schools, if you look at the schools, there is need to improve on the number of teachers in terms of pupil ratio to teachers providing services in those classrooms.
“They still need to improve the library and the computer Lab and of course the management of the facility will look into expanding the coverage in terms of additional classrooms.
“The statistics of the school indicates that there are high numbers of children who want to access education in these facility, without expansion, is not going to be possible to absorb all these children.
“So I take this opportunity to encourage other partners to come together, pull resources together and ensure that every child within the community has access to educational facility that provides quality education.”
