Abuja – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says it trained over 68 directors of the Non-Formal Education on the Nigerian Education Management Information System for improved mass literacy.
UNESCO’s Project Coordinator, Revitalising Adult/Youth Literacy in Nigeria Alice Ateh-Abang made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, on Wednesday.
Ateh-Abang spoke on the sideline of a workshop on Non-Formal Education Management.
She said the training was aimed at familiarising the zonal directors with the newly developed Non-Formal Education (NFE) software and portal for the purpose of data capturing and having an e-NFE.
The coordinator said the service portal was designed to provide a one-stop shop for those who wish to interact and engage in non-formal education sector to start accessing data.
She said the portal would allow Nigerian states to plan better based on data available on the Education Management Information System on mass literacy.
“The portal will provide baseline data on areas of mass education, which offer an excellent opportunity for the government to measure the progress made under the mass-literacy scheme.
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“The non-formal education had suffered inadequate funding because the real number of learners and illiterate Nigerians were not known but with the portal that issue will be resolved.’’
Dr Ifeyinwa Ukaegbu, said the Millennium Development Goals’ Office in Presidency provided the fund for the purpose of training and supply of information used to improve the management of NFE.
“The essence of these programme is to promote and improve the level of literacy in Nigeria because education is vital tool for national development thus it becomes imperative to boost the NFE.
“Nigeria was able to attain about 65 per cent of literacy under the MDGs
“One of the factors that boosted the enrolment of people in literacy programme in Nigeria was the non-formal sector.’’
She said that this was done through enhancing awareness, tripled enrolment on education and gave people a second chance to be educated.
Ukaegbu said the establishment of an NFE portal was a giant stride toward achieving the sustainable development goals which would begin in January 2016 to last for another 15 years.
“This training programme will help us to smoothly forward the MDG unfinished projects toward achieving the sustainable development goals which would begin in January 2016,’’ Ukaegbu said.
Dr Mathew Onuh, Director, Planning and Research and Statistics, National Commission for Mass Literacy, said the training would be replicated in 36 states through zonal coordinators.
Onuh said that NEMIS was being adopted in the NFE sector for the first time since the establishment of the commission in 1990.
He said this had resulted in conflicting figures as to the number of illiterates and literates from states, but with the application of NEMIS the jinx of inaccurate data would end. (NAN)