UNICEF has intensified efforts toward advocating for a stronger funding of the Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) across Jigawa, Kano and Katsina States.
This is coming with a two-day media dialogue on strengthening ECCDE and access to quality education for stakeholders from the three states, held in Dutse, Jigawa.
Wife of the Jigawa governor, Hadiza Namadi, noted that early childhood education remained the foundation upon which every nation built its future.
Mrs Namadi was represented by the wife of the Commissioner for Higher Education, Khadija Mohammed.
According to her, the early years of a child’s life are critical for cognitive, emotional and social development, therefore, investing in this stage is not just an option, but necessity.
“I would like to sincerely appreciate UNICEF and the state Ministry of Basic Education for their collaboration and commitment toward improving access to quality education, particularly in the early years.
“As a government, we remain committed to supporting initiatives that promote child development, improve school readiness, and ensure that every child-regardless of background has access to quality education.
”This partnership demonstrates the power of collective effort in addressing developmental challenges in our society,” she said.
Earlier, the acting Officer-in-Charge of UNICEF Kano Field Office, Dr Karanveer Singh, urged governments to increase budgetary allocations to the education sector, especially at the foundational level.
Singh further advised policy makers to ensure funds were efficiently utilised to improve infrastructure, teacher training, and access to learning materials.
He noted that scaling up investment in early childhood education not only enhanced school readiness, but also reduced dropout rates and improved overall academic performance in later years.
According to him, children who benefit from early learning programmes are more likely to develop essential life skills and contribute meaningfully to society, than those without early childhood education.
“I urged the government at all levels to ensure that ECCDE has a good representation in their annual budgets, to improve early childhood education in the three states,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants at the event included journalists, members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) , government officials and other policy makers.
The high point of the programme was a panel discussion on funding the ECCDE, realities of out-of-school children and how ECCDE could contribute to reducing the situation.
(NAN)
