From Attah Ede, Makurdi
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Thursday, donated learning materials to over 1500 Internally Displaced Persons(IDP) children who were victims of herdsmen attack on Yelewata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state.
Presenting the materials to the state government, at the IDP temporal camp located at the International Market Makurd, Mrs Juliet Chiluwe, UNICEF Chief of Field Office Enugu, said education is very critical in the lives of the displaced children.
She therefore called on the State Government particularly the State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA and the State Universal Basic Education Board(SUBEB),to render further support in addition to what UNICEF is doing to ensure that children at the camp do not become wayward generation.
“There are over 1500 IDP children and we are here to support them with educational materials such as 5000 exercise books, 1000 sports wears and 1000 school bags.
“We therefore request for more support and collaboration from the state government to ensure that we continue supporting these children to the end.
“There is need for more educational and learning materials to be supplied. We need more teachers, white boards, and to also ensure that even when the children return back homes, they will continue to support them until they migrated to tertiary institution”, Chiiuwe stated.
On her part, the UNICEF education specialist Enugu field office, Mrs. Agatha Nzeribe, acknowledged that the displaced children are in critical period of their lives, stressing that if they don’t learn now, they will never learn again.
She added that neglecting them now would affect the quality of human beings the society would have in future which would also affect the economy and whatever opportunity they may have in this Nigeria.
Mrs. Nzeribe explained that UNICEF has been actively supporting education for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the State, providing learning spaces, materials, and psychosocial support to children in IDP camps.
According to her, UNICEF is providing early childhood -learning through play, teaching at the right level, literacy and numeracy, school health services and safety security/ protection at the camp.
“There is Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS), where children can access early learning, school meals, basic health services, and participate in protection activities. UNICEF is also focused on improving literacy and numeracy through the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, grouping children by ability”, she said.
The education specialist m however appealed to the state government to provide more support to UNICEF so as to enhance the education of the displaced children in the State.
Earlier, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management, Mrs. Helen Nambativ, commended UNICEF for their efforts in addressing humanitarian crisis in the State and for their contributions to the education of the displaced children.
