By O’starEze

Education is widely reputed to be an instrument of socio-economic development and political awareness of any people. Consequently, primary education is regarded as the foundation of all education and therefore fundamental to success in life.

Since the Universal Basic Education was introduced in 1999 by the federal government of Nigeria to provide greater access to, and ensure quality education, there has been concerted effort to come up with a system that would ensure that pupils in government owned schools are given quality education despite the level they have sunk in recent years.

Over the years, this effort appears to be an exercise in futility as studies have continued to show thatthe products of public primary schools cannot compete with their counterparts from private primary schools, especially in foundational literacy, popularly called the three Rs; Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

But in 2014, as part of measures to improve the product of public schools, theUniversal Basic Education Commission all over the country, especially in Anambra State, decided to run a pilot programme using a system introduced by Universal Learning Solutions, a US-based non-governmental organization aimed at providing a multi-sensory way of teaching children how to read and write.

This system known as Jolly Phonics was no doubt a success as the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Commission and Universal Basic Education Commission at the federal level have been partnering with Universal Learning Solutions to training Primary I and II teachers.

Innocent Nwosu, the Jolly Phonics programme director in charge of the programme in Anambra State, says that teaching the children using this system has been producing satisfactory result, which informedits acceptance by the government.

Nwosu said that there was comparison made between pupils in schools where the teachers were taught Jolly Phonics system and pupils in control schools; where the teachers were not exposed to Jolly Phonics.

He said: “Pupils taught using Jolly Phonics showed aptitude in reading and writing beyond their reading age, unlike their counterparts in the control schools.

“This is why the federal organ, UBEC, as well as the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Commission are interested in this programme and investing so much towards ensuring that all Primary I and Primary II teachers in the state benefit from the training.”

Indeed, the result corroborates researches by Jean Piaget and Lev Viagotsky. According to the educational psychologists,“taking into consideration the facts of individual differences, learning difficulties, we remember 20 per cent of what we read, 30 per cent of what we hear, 40 per cent of what we see, 50 per cent of what we say, 60 per cent of what we do, and 90 per cent of what we see, hear, say and do.”

In this year’s edition of the training held in the three senatorial zones of the state, 891 primary one and two teachers, drawn from Anambra South, Central and North Senatorial zones were trained at choice locations in the three senatorial zones.

Nwosu explained that instead of the conventional 26 letters of the alphabets, in the Jolly Phonics system, pupil teachers are trained to expose their pupils to 42 letter sounds. The teachers are also taught the 5 skills in Jolly Phonics, namely: learning the letter sound, learning the letter formation, blending, sounding and reading.

Modus Operandi

According the Anambra State Project Coordinator, Ifeanyi Peter Ezealaji, the Jolly Phonics training is held in three centres; Nnewi Centre, Onitsha Centre and Awka Centre, which takes care of the various senatorial zones they represent. “We also have a Jolly Phonics hotline they can call whenever they have issues,” he disclosed.

The Assistant State Coordinator, NjidekaIbekwe, identified some of the materials every teacher is given during the programme as video discs, print materials, which are meant to help the teachers during learning and teaching using the Jolly Phonics method.

The programme holds for three days during which the teachers are taken through the art and skills of Jolly Phonics.

The interaction with teachers does not end after the three-day training. Nwosu says that state coordinators as well as monitors from Universal Learning Solutions International in collaboration with ASUBEB go round the schools where the teachers they trained teach to supervise how they implement what they had been taught to help them hone their skills further.

“There are also Jolly Phonic Teachers networks in each local government in the state while refresher trainings are held for the participants from time to time,” he adds.

Testimonies

A primary one teacher, Ukamaka Obasi, who had undergone the training in 2017 explained how the training had stood her out among her colleagues in her school.

“My headmistress made me the Jolly Phonics teacher of the entire school. I have a child in my class, Primary I, that can read practically anything. Though the school is in the village, the pupils can now compete favourably with their mates from city schools. All thanks to Jolly Phonics System of teaching. It helps teaching to be easy, and teaching-learning experience to be enjoyable,” she said.

She called for the training to be extended to teachers in all classes in the primary school to assist pupils that have gone beyond primary two but who are still having problem with basic reading and writing.

Also, the Jolly Phonics Desk Officer from ASUBEB, Edith Okpalacould not stop singing the praises of Jolly Phonics and the magic it has wrought in public schools since the programme was introduced in the state.

According to her, pupils who had the Jolly Phonics foundation performed well during a literacy competition in Lagos last year.

Challenges

As with everything that has to do with human beings, there are certainly challenges threatening the conduct of the training. According to the organisers, some of the teachers do not show interest in the training but in the allowance, they get at the end of the training for their transportation. On the other hand, the teacher-participants complain that the allowance they are given is notenough incentive to leave whatever they are doing to attend the training for three days which they could have put to better use.

They also complain that they lack computer systems and Android phones which limit their ability to access some of the take home materials they are given by the trainers.

Dismissing their complaints, Okpalasaid that the money given to the teachers covers the transportation cost the participants incur, stressing that the teachers should be grateful that they are given “priceless training” free of charge.

No doubt, Jolly Phonics could just be one of the tonics public schools require to get back to reckoning.

https://orientdailynews.com.ng/education/jolly-phonics-hope-public-school/

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