By Kudirat Musa
Abuja – The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and Universal Learning Solutions have improved the reading and writing skills of 5 million pupils in primary schools in Nigeria through the use of jolly phonics.
The UBEC Director of Teacher Development, Mr Ismail Yahya, made this known on Monday in Abuja during the celebration of 100,000th Jolly Phonics Teachers trained by UBEC.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jolly Phonics is a fun and interactive teaching tool that uses the synthetic phonics literacy teaching methodology.
It is recommended by governments around the world because of the way it quickly provides children with the skills needed to read and write.
According to Yahya, in the last seven years, Jolly Phonics has been in Nigeria and it has assisted in training teachers and what we are doing here today is to celebrate the 100, 000th teachers trained.
“We are happy because of the impact this has on the future of the children in the area of literacy.
“The significance is not in the numbers of teachers trained but the numbers of children that have been reached across Nigeria.
“Five million children have been reached across Nigeria through the 100,000 teachers trained, which is a great achievement,” he said.
In his remarks, UBEC Director of Academic Services, Madawaki Wadatau, said the programme was continuous following the 10 per cent funds allocated to teachers’ development through UBEC 2018 allocation to states.
Wadatau said that any state that had judiciously used their teachers’ development fund could present their outcome to be able to get another fund.
”More so as it is, we have not exhausted the 2018 teachers’ development fund,” he said.
Wadatau also said the teachers in the rural areas were being reached through their state universal basic education boards.
He said, “before jolly phonics started properly, we had problems with our education at the basic level specifically at primary one and two levels.
“Most of the children find it difficult to read but with the introduction of jolly phonics, learning, segmentation and pronunciation of words are made easier for children.”
Mr Gary Foxcroft, Chief Executive Officer, commended UBEC for its continuous support for the adoption of Jolly Phonics in government schools across Nigeria.
“UBEC has really recognised the tremendous impact that Jolly Phonics has been having on literacy levels in government schools and have taken it on as one of their flagship programmes.
“This has helped us to initiate new projects in several states. Jolly Phonics is now being used in all Nigerian states with widespread impact.
“This is truly amazing and will help to improve the reading and writing abilities of over one million children over the next two years.
“I appeal to all stakeholders, especially teachers and parents, to look out for this approach and key into it in order to ensure that the use of the synthetic phonics method in Nigeria is sustainably embedded into the education system”.
Ms Fraida Bako, a Teacher at Festival Road Primary School, Garki, Abuja, said that Jolly Phonic had really helped the pupils to acquire skills in reading and writing.
Bako said that the Jolly Phonic had also helped the children to be more attentive and focused toward mastering 42 phonic letters and pronouncing words perfectly.
(NAN)
