8th May, 2013
Mr Nyeson Wike, the Minister of State for Education, on Tuesday said the Federal Government has released N1 billion as part of efforts to boost Adults and Non-Formal Education in the country.
According to the News agency of Nigeria, NAN, Wike made the statement in Bauchi while declaring open a workshop, organised by the Department of Continuing Education and Extension Services in conjunction with National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education and UNESCO.
He said the fund was in the custody of UNESCO to enable it to work with other stakeholders to revitalise adult literacy and non-formal education in the country.
Wike, represented by the Deputy Director, Nomadic Education Commission, Kaduna, Alhaji Ibrahim Yemta, said President Goodluck Jonathan had set up a committee to revitalise the sector.
He said the committee met with stakeholders in the six geo-political zones to identify problems affecting the sector and find lasting solutions to such problems.
In his address, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Maiduguri, Prof. Ibrahim Njodi, identified inadequate funding and the lack of professional development opportunities for educators as some of the problems affecting adult education in the country.
Ibrahim said inadequate and inconsistent funding, coupled with poor training, monitoring and evaluation, had been affecting the sector’s performance.
“The majority of adult educators are untrained, especially on basic literacy, while governments often post school teachers to man adult education programmes instead of experienced adult educators.
“We can solve some of these problems through adequate allocation of resources to meet the needed objectives,” Njodi said.