69,000 Benefit From Qur’anic Education Intervention

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has said that over 69,000 learners nationwide have benefited from Integrated Qur’anic and Tsangaya Education (IQTE) interventions.

UBEC said it has launched the distribution of 100,000 school records and instructional materials for Integrated Qur’anic and Tsangaya Education (IQTE) centres.

Speaking at the flag-off which held at the UBEC Zonal Office in Kaduna, the deputy executive secretary (Technical), Rasaq Olajuwon Akinyemi, said the intervention targets non-formal learning centres in high out-of-school-children burden zones in the North-West, North-East, North-Central and South-West.

He noted that the exercise builds on previous IQTE interventions that delivered classrooms, recitation halls, furniture and sanitation facilities to hundreds of centres.

UBEC said the exercise was part of efforts to strengthen data management, improve learning outcomes and reduce the number of out-of-school children across the country.

He explained that the materials included enrolment and attendance registers, lesson plans, facilitator guides, assessment records and visitors’ books.

Akinyemi said the materials which would enhance tracking of learners, support literacy and numeracy instruction and improve reintegration of pupils into the formal school system.

He however expressed concern that many centres still depend heavily on federal support due to inconsistent counterpart funding by some states, urging State Universal Basic Education Boards to accord IQTE learners the same priority as pupils in conventional schools.

Akinyemi said UBEC’s strategy for addressing the out-of-school challenge includes enrolment drives, teacher development, community engagement and expansion of access through non-formal education pathways.

Also, the director of Social Mobilisation, Adamu Gurama, said the initiative bridges religious and secular learning by equipping Almajiri and Tsangaya pupils with literacy, numeracy and life skills while preserving Qur’anic values.