The Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Chidiebere Onyia, has disclosed that 50 percentage of the pupil population in the state can not read in English or solve simple mathematics questions.
It was gathered that Onyia led this out on Thursday, in the state’s capital, while delivering a keynote address titled, “Smart Basic Education and the Future of Africa” at the quadrennial convention of the Old Boys Association of Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw.
He added that the poor performance of the studens was discovered in November 2023 when the government conducted its Baseline Assessment of primary schools in the state.
Onyia said: “Our findings were shocking. After six years of primary school, 50 per cent of our children cannot read a single word in English and those who can read struggle with comprehension.
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“50% of our children cannot solve simple subtraction challenges. What we found out in Enugu State is written large across our nation.
“The World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO have defined this as ‘the Nigerian Learning Crisis’.
“In Enugu State, we now believe that in addition to providing continuous training and professional development to teachers within the school systems, we must also transform how teachers teach, as well as how students learn.”
