By Inusa Ndahi, Maiduguri
The European Union, EU, through the ‘Save The Children’ has presented customised Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Jeep, laptops and digital teaching accessories to the management and staff of the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.
It also handed over refrigerators, air conditioners, laptops, projector machines and other accessories to the state Ministry of Education in order to improve digital literacy among actors, monitoring and evaluation in Borno State.
Presenting the items separately at the SUBEB head office and the Ministry of Education in Maiduguri on Tuesday, the acting Manager, Education Sector of the organization, Mr. Nabeth Mela, said that the gesture was part of the E.U’s support for Early Recovery and Resilience, ERR, project which started since 2019 to 2022.
Mela stressed that the over a decade atrocities of insurgents have forced many people, caught up in the conflict, who have hitherto experienced brutal violence, lost family, friends and homes, lived with acute and sustained levels of stress in poor conditions, seen their communities torn apart, and had little or no access to life-saving services such as education.
Besides, Mela lamented that children and youth are one groups bearing the brunt of the crisis and are set to suffer long-term physical, social and economic consequences, unless appropriate action is taken.
Mela noted that “one of the project objectives is to increase access to save, inclusive and quality primary and secondary education for both formal and non-formal boys and girls between the ages of six and 18, especially in areas of displacement or return to resettlement in restored and improved manner for 8,000 children.”
He averred that the second objective is to increase relevance and flexible formal and non-formal education opportunities for out-of-school adolescents and youths, both male and female, and lastly, to strengthen capacity of public administration and community engagement in management and delivery of safe inclusive quality education services in the region.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Operations and Programmes/Team Lead, Borno Area Office of the ‘Save The Children,’ Mr.Tadicha Chachu, explained that the E.U, in collaboration with the ‘Save The Children,’ the Borno State government and other stakeholders have assisted tremendously in repositioning the education system, through improving access to schools and enrollment, provision of instructional materials, mainstreaming, training and retraining of teachers, as well as giving hope to vulnerable children in the state
He therefore enjoined the beneficiaries to make good use of the items donated to enhance quality of education, data capture, monitoring and evaluation.
In their vote of thanks on behalf of the state government, the Executive Chairman of SUBEB, Professor Bulama Kagu, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Hajiya Aisha Musa Asheikh, appreciated the E.U and ‘Save The Children’ for the good works and continuous support to the education sector.
The duo plegded to judiciuosly utilize the items donated for the overall development of the sector in the state.
