The Oando Foundation has expressed concern over the poor literacy and numeracy levels among Nigerian pupils, warning that the country’s education system is at risk if urgent measures are not taken.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, about 70 per cent of primary school children in Nigeria cannot read with understanding or solve simple mathematics problems. Millions of others remain out of school.
In a statement on Thursday, the Oando Foundation said the crisis spurred the launch of its Foundational Learning Improvement Programme, which deployed Early Grade Reading and Teaching at the Right Level methods in 80 public schools across Ebonyi, Plateau, Sokoto and Adamawa states.
Head of the foundation, Tonia Uduimoh, described the situation as troubling, noting that FLIP was designed to provide both preventive and remedial solutions.
“For years, the statistics around foundational learning in Nigeria have been sobering. In response, Oando Foundation launched FLIP across four states, using preventive and remedial interventions to strengthen literacy and numeracy skills among pupils,” she said.
Similarly, a trustee of the foundation, Dr. Feese Nguyan, lamented that children in school but unable to learn remain as disadvantaged as those who are completely out of school.
“The number of children that are out of school, and those in school but not learning, shows that there is still much to be done to give every child a fair chance at education,” she said.
Director of Basic Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Folake Olatunji-David, added that without literacy and numeracy, the potential of Nigerian children would remain limited.
The foundation said its LEARNOVATE-FLIP model had shown measurable improvements in learning outcomes, adding that scaling such interventions could drive systemic reforms in the country’s basic education sector.
