Early childhood care development and education ECCDE is taking center stage in Basic education delivery in the country.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC Dr. Hamid Bobboi stated this at a 5-day stakeholder’s engagement on the development of a roadmap on effective implementation of early childhood care development and education ECCDE in Kaduna.
He said the change in Education System is paramount to the commission because of the importance of early childhood care development and Education (ECCDE), when access is given to the child to acquire appropriate early stimulation, nurturing care, and language skills at very early years in life.
In addition, it is expected that the ECCDE framework will reinforce the effort targeted at eliminating the menace of Out-of-School children and elicit the attention of ministries, parastatals, and local and international development partners to start direction efforts at promoting ECD in Nigeria.
He stressed that globally, records have shown that through play-based activities at this foundational stage, the child develops and acquires skills for effective transition into primary school as well as retention and completion of school.
According to him, the Basic Education sub-sector has proven itself in all ramifications, to be a means to an end to so many educational challenges in Nigeria from poor reading habits, poor performance in Schools, lack of interest in acquiring basic and sustainable learning to the very devastating one that the whole world is talking about and earnestly looking for a solution to which is the menace of Out of School.
The Executive Secretary said, the 5-day interactive meeting was organized for two main reasons; one is to briefly review the implementation of ECCDE in Nigeria, understand its benefits, the best practices around the world in teaching and learning, and the National Policy Documental on Implementation of ECCDE; the Status of ECCDE in Nigeria with reference to the states in the North.
While the second is the need to fulfill the national policy statement through the development of draft better services delivery and efficiency in the education of our children early in their lives.