The Secretary to the Enugu State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, says 50 per cent of pupils in the state can neither read in English nor solve simple mathematics questions.

Onyia stated this while delivering a keynote address titled, “Smart Basic Education and the Future of Africa” at the quadrennial convention of the Old Boys Association of Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, on Thursday in Enugu.


According to him, the government discovered the shortcoming in its Baseline Assessment of primary schools in the state, conducted in November 2023.


“Our findings were shocking. After six years of primary school, 50 per cent of our children cannot read a single word in English and those who can read struggle with comprehension.
“50% of our children cannot solve simple subtraction challenges. What we found out in Enugu State is written large across our nation”.

He expressed displeasure that in Nigeria, 3 out of 4 children who completed basic education lack numeracy and literacy proficiency.

“The World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO have defined this as ‘the Nigerian Learning Crisis’.

“On top of this, our children suffer a “Skills Gap” because existing modes of teaching do not equip children with scientific, technological, productive, and digital competencies,” Onyia added.

The SSG, however, said that the state government education policy has been repositioned to incorporate bio-digital technology that would drive industrial growth.

This, he said, would be achieved through the introduction of innovative technologies in education, particularly at the basic education level.

He said that Gov. Peter Mbah had taken deliberate steps to reform the education system to meet the changing global demands.


Onyia assured that the challenges were being addressed through well-thought-out radical policy initiatives by the government.


The SSG said this included the introduction of a smart school model across the 260 electoral wards in the state, which had new facilities such as centres for artificial intelligence and robotics, and interactive smart boards among others.

The SSG added that the academic curricula would now prioritise experiential learning methods, problem-solving and case studies.

He said that the changes would not only equip students with emerging technological skills but also afford them opportunities to compete with their peers globally.

“In Enugu State, we now believe that in addition to providing continuous training and professional development to teachers within the school systems, we must also transform how teachers teach, as well as how students learn,” he added.

richiemcgold:
This is actually a serious problem that is not peculiar to Enugu alone.
Based on my experience as someone who has been actively involved in child education for many years, I've discovered these 3 facts about child-literacy development in our public schools:
1. more than 50% of Basic 5 pupils in our public primary schools cannot read efficiently.
2. More than 75% in Basic 2 cannot read at all.
3. However, this is not the case in private schools where pupils in a class as low as Nursery 2 are already reading storybooks.

SeeWahala:
Chai. Does this mean all those other states that the south east tops in schooling and waec matters are all filled with 80% olodos who can't read nor write in class?

Because we all know that the south east is far more literate than they are

This statistic if true spells doom for the rest of the country (except if no be statistics we go chop)

PressMyButton:
An army of ipob recruits.. This is very appalling to say the least. 50% is no joke, that's half the entire primary kids in the state. Why bother about school anyways, when after primary school, some uncles in the cities come to the village, pick them up to serve in their shops in Lagos and other states. Would you imagine how many of these kids that might have left their parents at the requests of these uncles & aunties coming back to the cities this early January?.

Christistruth03:
Many of them are on Nairaland
Their knowledge of History is even far worse it is absolutely Calamitous
A National Tragedy

SeeWahala:
Chai. Does this mean all those other states that the south east tops in schooling and waec matters are all filled with 80% olodos who can't read nor write in class?

Because we all know that the south east is far more literate than they are

This statistic if true spells doom for the rest of the country (except if no be statistics we go chop)

Christistruth03:
Many of them are on Nairaland
Their knowledge of History is even far worse it is absolutely Calamitous
A National Tragedy

smokinloud:
Omoooooo!.
But Enugu pupils in Lagos are extremely brilliant. I think it's the system there.

Sleekfingers:



The Way you guys reason and comment on naira land is something else. No wonder Desmond Elliot said. Children

Danisaint112:
I schooled in in the North (Abuja to be precise )when I was growing up and I will tell you this for free; even a Jss3 grandpa of northern origin in public schools can't read or struggle to.

It's norm here. We can easily put the figures at 90 percent. Only students brushed up from private schools mostly display intelligence.

kokoA:
Some nairalanders are very myopic in reasoning, we are talking about a national tragedy which is a potential doom awaiting Nigeria in future and people are trivialising this issue, making it an ethnic thing. The state of our public schools is really terrible all over the country and that's where about 90 percent of common men can afford to send their kids, if we can't educate our children properly do you guys think your kids can survive in future when you're all probably dead and buried? Then there will be no Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or whatever.