Kogi State Coordinator, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Titus Alonge has raised concern over the attitude of Nigeria government towards basic education in the country.
Alonge, while speaking on the sideline of the 2017 World Literacy Day celebration, noted that basic education in Nigeria has suffered neglect from both past and present administrations.
He said the World Literacy Day is a day set aside to annually celebrate literacy across the world to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.
According to him, the literacy level of Nigerian child is terrible. He said over 10 million Nigerian children are out of schools which according to him poses a great threat to national security. He said when such trend is not properly addressed, it will turn out to be a disaster in the future.
He called on Nigerians and government at all levels to support and promote literacy in the country to move the education sector forward.
The CSACEFA state coordinator harped on the need to sensitize the public on the importance of basic education to nation building stressing that the society will be better managed when they have good educational background.
September 8 was declared international literacy day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Celebrations take place in several countries.
UNESCO has it that over 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults are still not literate and two-thirds of them are women.
Also, 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.
According to Unesco’s “global monitoring report on education for all (2006)”, south and west Asia has the lowest regional adult literacy rate (58.6%), followed by Sub-Saharan Africa (59.7%), and the Arab States (62.7%). Countries with the lowest literacy rates in the world are Burkina Faso (12.8%), Niger (14.4%) and Mali (19%).
The report shows a clear connection between illiteracy and countries in severe poverty, and between illiteracy and prejudice against women.
