The Chief Executive Officer, Global Hope for Women and Children Foundation, GLOHWOC, Mrs Christianah Abayomi-Oluwole, has called on stakeholders to intensify efforts at ensuring inclusive education and adequate security especially in rural areas.
Abayomi-Oluwole also called for improved electrical power supply, training facilities and infrastructures, increased investment in education and scholarships as well as awareness creation and sensitization.
In a statement issued to mark this year’s International Literacy Day, the GLOHWOC CEO also called for affordable internet access at the rural areas.
While noting that the education industry is based on knowledge from books and other resources in form of readable information, she noted that experience plays a crucial role in developing the knowledge base of a person; making the data from the written documents and books unparalleled.
She said, “In this modern times, illiteracy is not just a shortcoming but a major hindrance towards success and development. All the devices that we use today are based on language, and it’s understanding.
“With countries like North Korea (100% literacy rate), Finland (99.00% literacy rate) praised as one of the countries with the highest literacy rate, so much is left to be desired in Nigeria with an average literacy rate of 62.02% and a significant disparity between male and female gender of 71.26% and 52.66% respectively.
“However there’s even a larger disparity between the literacy rate in the urban and rural areas attributed to low enrollment rate, inadequate facilities, insecurity, gender discrimination and poverty.
“With the limitless opportunities afforded by the digital age, the digital divide has never been wider in Nigeria.”
Abayomi-Oluwole called for equal access to information and technology, saying such multi-faceted issues hinder productivity, stifles macroeconomic growth of the rural areas and provides uneven playing field for competitive development.
While also noting that non-literate people are disproportionately affected by the COVID- 19 crisis during the apex of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GLOHWOC boss said it is therefore imperative for a human-centered recovery inevitably focused on addressing the root causes of educational marginalization and illiteracy.
“Non-Literate people are disproportionately affected by the COVID- 19 crisis During the apex of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 1.5 billion learners had their education stopped or interrupted.
“Education systems continue to experience a devastating crisis, while the challenges around public financing and the ever-increasing pressure on resources for public services are resulting in less prioritization of education, including literacy programmes.
“This unprecedented crisis has also deepened pre-existing inequalities, disproportionately affecting non-literate young people and adults.
‘It is undeniable that the rapid shift to distance learning forced by the pandemic has deepened the exclusion of many especially vulnerable communities, including children with disabilities,” she said.
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