Early childhood education in Nigeria: Success amid challenges and barriersThe words of American social reformer, Franklin Douglas, that “it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults” rang true at the Magaji Abdullahi Nursery School, Sabon Gari, in Shagari Local Government Area of Sokoto State. There, the state government’s programme on Early Childhood Education is gaining ground steadily.
There are about 200 kids under the ECE programme at Magaji Abdullahi Nursery School. This comes with challenges, which another teacher, Hajia Zara’u Modi Shagari, explained: “The fact that the kids are not captured in the government’s school feeding programme poses a serious challenge to the success expected of the ECE in this school. Shortages of instructional materials are also another challenge that cannot be wished away.
But Abdulsalam has a ready explanation: “Ours is a public school and because of the encumbrances we encounter in funding and instructional materials, we see situations where parents of pupils take their wards to private schools in the community and I think this has accounted for the low intakes.” The Gauraka primary school ECE cadre interestingly has two teachers, enough to cater to 50 kids without many problems.