The Non-Governmental Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS), in collaboration with the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) is to implement the accelerated second chance education projects in Colleges of Education (COE).
The National President of NOGALSS, Mr Noah Emmanuel, disclosed this when the association paid an advocacy visit to the commission in Abuja on Monday.
Emmanuel said the project would be implemented in its pivot states of Adamawa, Ebonyi and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for illiterates within and the immediate environment of the institutions.
According to him, it is expected that each college of education is to determine the number of classes to be established as the project is fully paid for by the EU-UN.
” Second chance education is for people who have missed the first chance through one way or were marginalised.
” You look at the children who gave birth and they were dropped out of school; you look at the parents who were too poor and could not give them quality education and there are so many people out there who do not have the first chance for education.
” So, these people are not too late to learn, we are giving them a second chance, not just a second chance but accelerated second chance.
” These people can not read and write so we are starting from the basic literacy and adult literacy as this will definitely help to promote adult literacy in Nigeria.
Emmanuel added that the project would be extended to the 36 states of the federation to provide a second chance and livelihood skills for out-of-school girls and young women facing intersecting marginalisation.
” The project is targeting minimum of 10,000 women, girls, some of whom may wish to mainstream to the formal school system.
“The project is focusing on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls and was launched in September 2017 by the UN Secretary-General, the EU High Representative and the Vice President of Nigeria.
” NOGALSS is engaged to implement the non-formal education component of the project. We shall be working in collaboration with the State Agencies for Mass Education and other relevant stakeholders in all implementing states.
” At the moment, we are here to ensure that the colleges of education in states like Adamawa, Ebonyi and the FCT should key into this project for the illiterates within the institutions and its environment,” he said.
Responding, the Executive Secretary, NCCE, Prof. Pauline Okwelle, pledged the commission’s readiness to partner with the association to strengthen teachers education in the country.
Okwelle said the commission was keen to anything that had to do with violence against women and girls, hence inculcated this into its curriculum.
” NCCE is a regulatory agency, our major mandate is to regulate the training of basic education level to maintain quality and we have also extended it by having programmes by standard of education that have to do with non-formal education.
” So we train teachers in both formal and non-formal education because we are part of government policy to see our country having people that are literate. We are also promoting literacy in this country.
“We have full support of the association because in our colleges, we have departments of adult and non-formal education.
” So we already have lecturers in these colleges; we have some facilities and those resources we have and other material resources; we will use it to support the success of this programme,” he said. (NAN)
