<strong>UNICEF empowers 285,000 Borno orphans with basic literacy</strong>

About 285,000 children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency and children of the vulnerable have been taught basic literacy and numeracy under UNICEF’s Teaching at the Right Level initiative in Borno State over the last three years.

The initiative was funded through the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria project by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, in collaboration with Education Cannot Wait.

The beneficiaries include 270,500 children aged 6 to 17 years, comprising 45% boys and 55% girls, along with 7,200 educators and facilitators, 1,035 government officials, and 2,235 school and center-based management committee members.

Speaking to journalist during a field mission to UNICEF-supported schools in Jere and Maiduguri metropolis to commemorate International Education Day, Mr. Ian Attfield, the Senior Education Adviser at the British High Commission, said that the four-year programme aims to enhance access to safe, inclusive, and high-quality learning, particularly focusing on children affected by conflict, especially girls and those with disabilities. 

Attfield noted that the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria, an Education Emergency Program (PLANE-EIE), is a four-year £16 million grant initiative initiated in December 2021, expected to conclude in December 2025.