The Chief of Field Office of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mr Maulid Warfa has revealed that students in the north-western zone have missed 750 lessons throughout the period of coronavirus pandemic.
The Fund said there is a need for them to be assisted either at home or in school to be able to recover from the calamity that befell their studies as a result of the pandemic.
Warfa disclosed this during a two-day sensitisation workshop jointly organised by the federal ministry of education, and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) held in Kano recently.
He said to address the issue; the fund has deliberately engaged Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna and Sokoto States in the North Western part of the country as well as training them on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He further explained that UNICEF is being funded by Global Partnership for Education to assist children especially students affected by the pandemic and work with stakeholders such as principals, directors public enlightenment directors of planning in the ministry among others to address the issue.
In her remarks, Deputy Director at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Chiemezie Nwaobiara Josephine stated that the workshop is apt considering the fact that in times of the pandemic and crisis, education must continue.
“You must be alive before you read and write, hence education must continue in a time of the pandemic. That is the main reason why we say schools must be kept safe for learning to take place,” she said.
