Final Report on Implementation of the Revitalizing Adult and Youth Literacy (RAYL) programme has been presented to Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, indicating that out of a total of 5,101,719 learners enrolled in the programme between 2013 – 2015 in 146 focused Local Governments, 4,589,637 of them have been made literate, even as 4,807 facilitators were also graduated.Speaking at the presentation ceremony December 6, 2016 in Abuja, the Minister of Education stated that the Federal Government through the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on the Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDG) made available $6.4m for the project, aimed at reducing illiteracy level in Nigeria and to build a critical mass of educators for literacy and life skills acquisition.
According to him, the ultimate beneficiaries of the project are those who have not been reached, the marginalized or excluded from formal education system, mainly young girls and women, youth and out -of- school children.
The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, commended all stakeholders in the project including UNESCO, parastatals of the Ministry and Non-Governmental Organizations, stressing that as the project comes to an end December 2016, stakeholders should continue to make efforts towards eradicating illiteracy.
Listing some achievements during the period, the Chairman of RAYL Steering Committee, Prof. Gidado Tahir reported the establishment and equipping of Community Learning Centres in 13 states, publication on Adult and Non-formal Education, capacity building for NMEC staff and establishment of Non-formal Education Management Information System in NMEC among others.
He disclosed that the challenges encountered in course of executing the programme included lack of commitment by states to utilize the trained facilitators, poor condition of service for Non-Formal Educators, Boko Haram insurgency in the North and limited political will at all levels.
The ceremony featured demonstrations by some graduates of the mass literacy programme who expressed joy that they could now do many of those things they could not do before their enrolment including reading, even reading and writing text messages on phone, among others.
Chinenye P Ihuoma, mni
Director, Press &PR
