On Thursday, the Nigerian government, UNICEF, and other partners launched the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP), an online mobile platform.
The platform, which will soon include an offline option, aims to provide continuous education to three million learners in 2022 alone, and 12 million by 2025.
We must change and reimagine the education sector to ensure the continuity of learning for all children and the resilience of education systems to future shocks.”
“Deploying innovations that rethink current methodologies, including new approaches to delivering education in ways that defy the digital divide, and ensuring learning continuity in emergencies,” said Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by Minister of State for Education Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.
The Nigerian Learning Passport is intended for use in pre-primary, primary, and secondary school. Children, youth, and teachers can gain access to a digitalized curriculum that includes learning materials in all core curriculum subjects for Primary One through Six, as well as all Junior and Senior Secondary School classes.
To access a variety of high-quality learning content, a learner can register on the platform using any device with a web browser or through the NLP mobile application.
With the launch, Nigeria has joined the 20 other countries around the world where the Learning Passport is improving learning opportunities for children.
“Before COVID-19, approximately 10.5 million Nigerian children aged 5 to 14 were not in school,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a goodwill message at the launch in Abuja. In Nigeria today, more than 9.7 million children are at risk of never returning to school, leaving their education behind. “By offering simple, easy, and fun ways to learn, as well as tailor-made training programs, the Learning Passport will help respond to the needs of every child,” says the Learning Passport. It can help us reach the most vulnerable and marginalized learners by providing online, offline, and mobile options.”
Nigeria’s education sector faces numerous challenges, which have contributed to more than 10.5 million children not attending school in Africa’s most populous country.
One of these challenges is access to high-quality education, which has recently been exacerbated by attacks on educational institutions and student abductions. Both have caused parents to be concerned about sending their children to school. Because of the disruption to education caused by school attacks, millions of children have missed out on learning that they would have received if they had been in the classroom.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the digital divide that two-thirds of the world’s children face, with no home internet access. This lack of connectivity disproportionately affects low-income countries and rural areas, putting children and youth in these areas at risk of missing out on education and perpetuating inequalities.
In addition, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, stated that both the digital divide and COVID-19 have demonstrated the need for innovation in order to help Nigerian children realize their right to an education.
“We appreciate the partnership with Microsoft, the Global Partnership for Education, and all partners who collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Education on this project to provide children in Nigeria with access to continuous learning,” he added.
The NLP is funded by GenU 9JA (Generation Unlimited in Nigeria), with the goal of providing connectivity and digital learning to young Nigerians on a large scale. Partners such as IHS Towers and Airtel are currently connecting schools to the internet and providing zero-rated data to UNICEF so that the NLP can be deployed in connected schools and reach millions of children with digital learning.
By 2030, GenU 9JA aims to assist 20 million young Nigerians (aged 10 to 24) in transitioning from learning to earning and delivering data, digital learning, job-related skills, and livelihood opportunities.
