The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has called for deeper collaboration between Nigeria and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to support the Federal Government’s education reform agenda.
Alausa made the call in Abuja while receiving the newly appointed UNESCO Country Representative to Nigeria, Prof. Isaiah Barreto Da Rosa, during a courtesy visit focused on strengthening cooperation in key areas of the education sector.
The minister said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had recorded significant progress in expanding access to education, disclosing that more than one million out-of-school children had returned to school in the last 20 months.
He also stated that nearly 6.7 million girls had benefited from programmes aimed at improving access to and retention in school.
Alausa, however, advocated a balanced approach to educational interventions, stressing the need to sustain gains in girl-child education while paying greater attention to the educational needs of boys.
He explained that the Federal Government’s education reform programme is built around six priority areas: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, reintegration of out-of-school children, data and digitalisation, girl-child education, and quality assurance.
According to him, the government is making substantial investments in skills development, technology and teacher capacity building while strengthening the use of reliable data to improve decision-making and measure outcomes.
On teacher development, the minister welcomed UNESCO’s technical support and highlighted the Ministry’s Accelerated Teacher Professional Programme, which is targeted at one million in-service teachers.
He also acknowledged UNESCO’s contributions in areas such as TVET assessment, digital transformation, education for peace, and media and information literacy.
Alausa noted that partnerships would be most effective when they complement and strengthen programmes already established by the Nigerian government.
Earlier, the UNESCO Country Representative, Prof. Da Rosa, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s education reforms.
He described UNESCO as a technical partner willing to provide expertise in areas identified by the country and recalled the organisation’s longstanding presence in Nigeria since the 1960s.
Da Rosa highlighted UNESCO’s work in TVET, teacher development, education for peace, science, culture, communication and information.
He commended the Ministry of Education for its progress in digitising education data and expressed readiness to deepen cooperation in areas including TVET, teacher capacity development and the reintegration of out-of-school children.
According to him, UNESCO-supported programmes have trained more than 28,000 teachers across different states and reached over 1.7 million students.
He added that the organisation’s specialised institutes remain available to provide additional technical expertise where required.
Reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to the partnership, Alausa assured UNESCO of the Ministry’s readiness to continue working closely with the organisation to improve access to quality education and support the implementation of the Tinubu administration’s education reform agenda.
He said the government would continue to mobilise domestic resources and leverage strategic partnerships to equip Nigerian learners with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to national development.
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