COVID-19 Brings Unprecedented Changes
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused unprecedented changes to lives and educational systems worldwide. Above all, the Education Development Partners Group (EDPG) in Nigeria wish everyone good health and encourage children, parents, and educators to follow public health guidelines including wearing face masks, frequent handwashing, and physical distancing as much as possible.
The EDPG is committed to both short-term pandemic response as well as long-term development of the education sector in Nigeria. The updates below offer a snapshot of the good work continuing under trying circumstances. At the same time, design work also continues for activities that will support Nigeria’s teachers and pupils in the years to come.
Keep well, stay safe, until we can meet in person again.
Good News & Moves
Education Development Partners in Northeast Converge on COVID-19 Response: The development and implementing partners working in Borno and Yobe states have been virtually meeting biweekly to discuss COVID-19 responses in education. Members describe their efforts to promote public health messaging in multiple languages, provide handwashing stations, and support widows in the production of face masks to address the immediate health threats.
Other highlights include:
- UNICEF supporting the reconstruction/rehabilitation of 30 schools
- in Borno State in collaboration with the Ministry of Rehabilitation,
- Reconstruction and Resettlement
- UNICEF providing skills training for 1,100 adolescent youth UNICEF and SUBEB-supported radio programming in Borno State
- USAID’s Addressing Education in Northeast Nigeria (AENN) activity mobilizing communities via SMS, WhatsApp, Interactive
- Voice Response, and radio program messaging
Professor Musa Alabe of the Yobe SUBEB joined the May 28 meeting and we look forward to continued collaboration with state education officials.
Virtual Roundtables Advance Igbo and Yoruba Reading Materials Development: USAID’s Northern Education Initiative (NEI) Plus activity is employing groundbreaking virtual roundtables with stakeholders across Nigeria to advance the development of evidence-based early grade reading materials in Igbo and Yoruba to reach millions more children. The roundtable discussions brought together experts in language, curriculum, and teacher education from government and higher education. In addition to materiais development, the roundtables also demonstrated that a variety of project activities, from research to training workshops, are possible with existing technologies.
