Gombe Partners USAID On Learn-to-read Project

Gombe State government has reiterated commitment to partner with the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID) in the area of provision of quality education to the teeming children in the State.

The state government and USAID are partnering on the ‘Learn-to read’ project targeting children of school age to ensure every child can read and write before reaching primary four.

The deputy governor Manasseh Jatau made the position of the government and USAID known when he played host to the chief of party, USAID Nigeria in his office.

Jatau expressed optimism that the partnership between Gombe State and USAID would yield positive results towards assisting the children of the targeted age to know how to read and write.

The deputy governor noted that the new development would save the children the rigour of having to translate English first from their mother tongue to Hausa and then to English, a process he described as delaying learning.

He cited examples of how the Chinese, Ethiopians etc have taken advantage of their languages to go farther than the rest of the world, opining that this is because memories last longer when learning is done in indigenous languages.

He called on USAID to take advantage of the centrality of Gombe State in the North East by making it their regional capital so as to easily assess the other states in the region.

Earlier, the head of USAID’s delegation and chief of party in Nigeria Dr. Nurudeen Lawal said, LEARN is an acronym for Leveraging Educational Assistance Resource in Nigeria targeting the little ones in the beneficiary states towards addressing challenges affecting socio-economic development.

He said if every child can read and write, the health, economy, gender issues and everything in the nation will change for the better.

“This is because educational development is a critical part in overall development,” he said.