- No fewer than five million pupils from schools across the country have benefited from Jolly Phonics learning method through the support of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
No fewer than five million pupils from schools across the country have benefited from Jolly Phonics learning method through the support of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Speaking at an event to mark the 100, 000th Jolly Phonics teacher trained by UBEC in Abuja on Monday, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Learning Solutions, Mr Gary Foxcroft, said the literacy project has continued to impact positively in schools.
Foxcroft said the decision of UBEC to partner with Universal Learning Solutions on training of teachers on Jolly Phonics in 2012 has resulted to massive transfer of literacy skills to pupils.
He expressed delight that 100,000 Nigerian teachers have been trained on Jolly Phonics, a scheme that is on the curriculum of the United Kingdom, Australia and many others.
“Jolly Phonics is by far the biggest literacy project not just in Nigeria but in Africa. Today, we believe we have reached five million children in Nigeria.
In a remark, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said the training of teachers on Jolly Phonics under the Commission’s Teacher Professional Development (TPD) has boost the ability of pupils to read with relative ease.
“With the introduction of Jolly Phonics, learning and pronouncement of sound have been made easy for the children. They are now able to sound letters and form words on their own and read words and short sentences.
“You can now see primary one pupils reading short paragraphs, that is one of the achievements of the Jolly Phonics ,” Bobboyi, who was represented by Mallam Wadatau Madawaki, Director, Academic Service of UBEC, said.
On his part, UBEC’s Director, TPD, Mallam Uwaha Ismaila, said the adoption of Jolly Phonics has recorded several successes, especially in boosting literacy level in basic schools across the country.
“Jolly Phonics has assisted in the training of teachers and the teachers are impacting the skills on their pupils. The significance is that it has given literacy to children,” he said.
In a remark, an official of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Joseph Achede, commended UBEC for the literacy feat being recorded in schools through the Jolly Phonics project, adding that the ministry on its own has a Read Campaign unit to encourage the act of reading.
Highpoint of the event was the demonstration of Jolly Phonics reading method by primary one pupils of Festival Road Primary School, Area 10, Garki-Abuja
It was reported that Jolly Phonics method is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics.
