Literacy: Kaduna Trains 6,828 ‘Primary 1’ Teachers

Kaduna State Government said on Saturday that it would train 6,828 Primary One teachers on how to improve literacy and numeracy among pupils in public primary schools.

Malam Habib Alhassan, Acting Director, School Inspection and Monitoring, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna.

Alhassan said the training would be conducted under the World Bank-supported Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) designed to improve enrolment and learning outcomes in public schools.

He said the process had begun with the selection of 321 master trainers and teacher facilitators for Reading and Numeracy Activities (RANA).

He added that the RANA initiative would be carried out across the over 4,226 primary schools in the state under Result Area Two of the BESDA programme, which sought to improve literacy.

He explained that the master trainers and the teacher facilitators would train the 6,828 primary one teachers and monitor their performance and efficiency in improving literacy among primary one pupils.

“We have received over 500 applications from the Federal College of Education, Zaria, Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Ministry of Education, SUBEB and others from Local Government Education Authorities.

“We are currently conducting examination and interview for the selection and appointment of the 321 master trainers and teacher facilitators out of over 500 applicants.

“After the selection exercise, 107 will be appointed as Master Trainers and 214 as Teacher Facilitators.

“Hopefully by next week, the master trainers will be trained, who would then train the 214 teacher facilitators.

“The teacher facilitators will then step down the training to the 6,828 primary one teachers in the state,” he said.

The director added that the master trainers and teacher facilitators would closely monitor teachers’ delivery in classrooms to ensure improved literacy, including the use of Hausa language.

The director explained that the board had begun mobilisation of 2,000 influencers across relevant stakeholders for massive enrolment campaign for about 145,000 out-of-school children by the end of the year.