Think Creative - Issue 2

ers are not adequately trained and mentored. With these education challenges, teachers and students are regularly absent from school. Grade 3 teacher Yabo says despite these hur- dles, perspectives are changing and a renewed excitement for learning is increasing in the remote communities. The Northern Education Initiative Plus has delivered more than 860,000 textbooks to students and teachers in nearly 900 primary schools in Sokoto state alone. “Children are coming to school more than they did before because of the books distributed to them,” says Yabo, who has been teaching at Nizzamiyya Islamiyya Model Primary school for nine years and even attended the school as a child. Before the Mu Karanta! books were delivered to school, Yabo says the teachers were using very old and outdated textbooks. Now, the new learning and teaching materials are improving the quality and accessibility of education for these students. “Even those that are not enrolled in school are drawn to these books and they ask their parents to bring them to school so they can get these books,” she explains. In the second of its five years, the Northern Education Initiative Plus has distributed more than 1.9 million reading textbooks to students and teachers in Bauchi and Sokoto states, opening new doors for children in northern Nigeria to improve their basic literacy and math skills. For 10-year-old Yazidu, the Mu Karanta! les- sons are enhancing his motivation to learn in the classroom. “When we learn Mu Karanta! my teacher teaches us new songs, she shows us papers with drawings of different objects and their names. We identify them together. She reads a story, asks us questions and we look in our books together,” he says. For Yazidu’s father Abubakar Sahabi, a quality education is essential for his youngest son, one of 18 children, to reach his goals. “When I watched him read, I realized that the many hours he spent in school were worth the while. My decision to educate him is a good investment,” says Sahabi. After witnessing his son’s motivation to learn Hausa and English, Sahabi, a retired teacher, installed a chalkboard in their home kitchen to practice the Mu Karanta! lessons together as a family.

Photos by Gretchen Robleto

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