Kaduna SUBEB trains 1,000 teachers on synthetic phonics

The Kaduna State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), in collaboration with the Universal Learning Solutions (ULS), has begun a three-day training for 960 primary-one teachers and 40 education officials on specialist literacy teaching practices called synthetic phonics.

Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching reading which first teaches the letter sounds and then builds up to blending the sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.

The beneficiaries, selected from the 23 local government areas of the state, would be trained in Zaria, Kaduna and Zangon-Kataf.

Speaking at the opening of the training in Kaduna, the Senior Project Manager at Universal Learning Solutions,  Richard Turnbull, said the training would equip teachers with the expertise and tools required to enable them to improve reading and writing skills in English of primary one pupils in government schools across the state.

According to him, jolly phonics is a fun and interactive teaching tool that uses the synthetic phonics literacy teaching methodology. “Synthetic phonics is recommended by governments around the world because of the way that it quickly provides children with the skills needed to read and write,” he said.

ULS Chief Executive Officer Mr. Gary Foxcroft, in a statement, said Jolly Phonics would be in all 36 states and the FCT by the end of this year, stressing that this would help to improve the reading and writing abilities of over one million children over the next two years.

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mallam Ja’afaru Sani, said the training would strengthen the capacity of teachers in the state.