No fewer than 900 primary school teachers in Oyo State have been trained on Jolly Phonics by the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The board conducted the training in partnership with the Universal Learning Solutions (ULS).
The ULS Project Manager, Mr Augustine Adeoye, said that teachers teaching primaries 1 and 2 classes benefitted for the 10-day training in a statement.
Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing of the English language to developing learners.
Adeoye said that the training was aimed at improving the literacy level of both the teachers and the pupils in public schools in the state.
Accordingly to Adeoye, “The 10-day training, which began on Sept. 13 to Sept. 22, drew selected teachers from Ogbomosho, Kajola and Saki Local Government Areas of the state.
“With the training, teachers have been equipped with the expertise and tools required to enable them improve on the reading and writing skills in English for primary one and two pupils in government schools across the state,” he said.
The statement described Jolly Phonics as a fun and an interactive teaching methodology recommended by governments around the world to provide children with the skills needed to read and write.
Mr Gary Foxcroft, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ULS, praised the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for its continued support for the adoption of Jolly Phonics in Nigeria’s public schools.
“UBEC has really recognised the tremendous impact that Jolly Phonics has been having on literacy levels in Nigeria’s government schools and has taken it on as one of their flagship programmes.
“This has helped us to initiate new projects across the country. Jolly Phonics will be in all the 36 states, and the FCT before the end of 2018.
“This is truly amazing and it will help to improve the reading and writing abilities of over 2 million children over the next two years,” he said in the statement.
Also, ULS Projects Director, Dr Louise Gittins, described the partnership with Oyo SUBEB as delightful, saying the project would give the children of Oyo State a brighter future.
The statement also quoted the State Chairman of SUBEB, Aderonke Makanjuola, as saying that the entire pupils in the state would benefit from the training.
Makanjuola was represented by Mr Delani Binuyo, the Director of School Services in the board.
He said that the board would set up a monitoring mechanism which would ensure that the teachers trained from the programme implement all they had learnt in their schools.
(Independent)
