By Philip Yatai

The Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE) programme has reeled out the achievements recorded in its efforts to improve learning outcomes in primary schools in the past six months in Kaduna State.

PLANE is a seven-year United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-supported programme, designed to deliver an inclusive and effective education system that improves learning outcomes in pre-primary and primary schools.

The programme is being implemented across 694 schools in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

The LGAs include Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Soba, Jaba, Sanga, and Sabon Gari.

Speaking in Kaduna during a technical review meeting with stakeholders on the journey so far, the state’s Team Lead, Ms Diana Agabi, said that the programme was already yielding desired results.

Agabi explained that the objective of the meeting was to discuss PLANE’s activities, achievements, and challenges as well as share experiences and lessons learned in the course of implementing the programme.

She added that the meeting was also organised to map out plans for approved planned activities, agree on approaches to improve implementation and how the state can sustain the interventions.

She said that the programme was supporting Kaduna State to achieve its education policies and strategies through four broad outputs.

She said that output one focuses on evidence-based teaching, learning approaches and learning materials, while output two was to improve planning, personnel management, and public financial management practices to deliver foundational skills.

She added that output three was to improve the management and performance of non-state sectors in delivering foundational skills, while output four was for effective generation, communication and use of evidence-based citizen engagement and service delivery.

Malam Rabiu Sambo, Outreach Officer, PLANE, said that under output one, PLANE has developed and distributed 262,581 primary one and two books, and 16,131 teachers’ guides to 694 primary schools.

Sambo added that more than 2,400 head teachers and teachers were trained on inclusive foundational skills, while 168 personnel were trained on mobile data collection for Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessment (ERGMA).

“The programme also strengthened the capacity of 153 quality assurance and school support officers on mobile data collection for coaching and mentoring.

“PLANE also established 75 community learning hubs, training 75 facilitators on how to conduct community sensitization and learning promotion and 15 learning hubs ambassadors were identified to promote community learning,” he said.

In output two, Mr Mubarak Siraj, State Reform Facilitator, PLANE, listed one of the achievements as the training of monitoring and evaluation officers on procurement and budget processes.

Siraj equally said that the programme also improved the capacity of 23 officials from the education ministry, departments, and agencies on the development of the education sector’s Annual Operational Plan.

“PLANE also conducted baseline analysis of Kaduna State teachers’ recruitment, replacement and deployment policy and disseminated findings to stakeholders.

He added that in output three, the programme supported the conduct of a socio-demographic survey on non-state schools, and the findings were disseminated to stakeholders.

He equally said that PLANE also supported the generation of report cards based on the graded assessment conducted in 50 non-state schools.

“The programme also supported the development of a draft policy to sanitise the operations of private schools as well as a guideline for gender equality and social inclusion safeguarding.

“Also, PLANE has identified 10 banks that would be linked with private school owners to access funding in the form of loans,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Musa Adeyemi, Research and Learning Manager, PLANE, said that the programme also supported effective coordination of monitoring and evaluation systems among education agencies.

Adeyemi added that PLANE also reported 12 educational research on basic education conducted in the state by policy-makers and academics and trained 101 assessors on the protocol and administration of EGRMA.

The Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Halima Lawal, praised PLANE for its laudable support towards improving learning outcomes in the state.

Lawal, who was represented by the Director, Education Planning and Physical Development, Malam Salisu Lawal, disclosed that the state government would sustain the intervention following the visible achievement recorded so far.