By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Mrs. Binta Musa is the only Early Childhood Education (ECE) teacher in Ali Fodio Primary School in Bodinga Local Government Area (LGA) of Sokoto state. She has 150 pupils in her class. Mrs. Musa said she employs a method of teaching them play based learning.
Despite lack of equipment and manpower to make her work easy, she tries to simplify her teaching by using ‘Hausa’, (the populous language in the country) and English to create understand.
She said she enjoys teaching the pupils play based learning by using objects that are common to them.
“It is a simple method that pupils easily understand. I use objects that they know in ‘hausa’ and tell them the English names of those objects to enable them identify those objects tomorrow. This is because most of them already know the names of those objects and animals in their common language which is hausa.
Maryam who has been teaching for 6 years added that the work load is too much for her.
“The stress of teaching this pupils everyday is not not easy for one person to handle. It is always difficult to get their attention in the class. Some of them will be crying while others will complain of hunger. This is aside those who come to bully the small ones. I face all these challenges alone and still try to organize them.
“Also, we do not have enough teaching materials for the children. I only manage to teach them with the few materials we have and also improvise if necessary.
“We want the government to provide more play objects for us and employ more teachers for ECE. This is because we get new pupils all the time. We started with 40 but now we have 150 pupils. We need help.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of Bodinga LGA, Lawali Mu’azu, said despite having 105 basic schools including ECE centres, inadequate facilities and manpower hamper the smooth running of ECE programmes.
“ECE programme in this local government is challenged by shortage of staff, lack of classrooms and teaching materials which are necessary for ECE programmes. If government can help us with all these, we will fix our ECE programmes to standards”.
He said the local government relies on School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) to provide learning materials and fix damaged facilities.
“Currently, it is the SBMBC in the communities that provide learning materials and revamp collapsed structures to accommodate the pupils. It is not easy for them but that is the only help we have at the moment.”
The SBMC was implemented in Nigeria in 2013, to enable governments and service providers to identify gaps and track progress in the education sector.
The programme was also to improve accountability and educational outcomes through the involvement of teachers, parents, and students in school management and decision making.
On his part, a parent, Bashir Bala said, “When I enrolled my children in ECE, they didn’t know much, but now I can see a lot of improvement.
“I always come to the school to see how they are faring. I also buy some play objects for them when necessary to improve learning.
“I am happy with the changes that I am seeing. I wish government can do more to assist them so as to improve play based learning”.
While speaking at a media dialogue on ECE organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in Sokoto, the
Education Specialist, UNICEF, Yetunde Oluwatosin, said inadequate ECE teaching & learning materials affects the success of the programme.
“ There is also lack of proper awareness which leads to low public demand for ECE enrollment. Low support for early learning (including at home) Systems is another major factor.
“Others are; poor subsector analysis, planning & coordination.
Inadequate spending on ECE and lack of data on early learning.
To ensure success and continuity of the programme, she said there must be leadership and governance continuity including deliberate investment in the sector.
Speaking further, she said active parental / caregiver engagement in learning is necessary to ensure sustainability of the programme.
“There is also need for cooperation with communities linked to
schools as platforms for child health, nutrition and protection.
“There is also need to encourage and strengthen parents’ role as first educators to boost enrollment.”
While saying ECE is everybody’s responsibility, she said
capacity building remains key in ensuring success.
“Also necessary is appropriate curriculum and provision of adequate teaching and learning materials. Public financing and relevant partnership is important for ECE.
“ We need available data for ECE and building of programme on public financing, advocacy, policy reviews, regulatory oversight and quality assurance.
“There is also need to expand ECE to the underserved and marginalised people across the country. We need to strengthen continuous teacher professional development. We must expand community provisions for ECE.
“We must continue to advocate for strengthened systems
for ECCDE policy, advocacy, capacity
building and financing.
“We must improved and expand equitable, inclusive, quality ECCDE through ensuring continuous professional development standards, adequate teaching and learning materials, community-based provision and engagement of parents and communities as partners.”
Speaking on the need to enroll all children in ECE, Maryam Darwesh, UNICEF chief field officer, Sokoto, reiterated that the development of the brain in the early years is a pathway that affects physical and mental health, learning, and behaviour throughout the life cycle.
“Children who participate in well-conceived ECE programmes tend to be more successful in later school, and are more competent socially & emotionally, as well as show higher verbal, Intellectual and physical development during early childhood than those who are not enrolled into such programme.”
Darwesh, however, regretted that many children are not accessing pre-primary education, and reiterated that pre-primary education remains a priority in UNICEF programming with the government in Nigeria.
