The Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI+) Activity

(Nigeria): The Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI+) activity addresses low literacy rates and mitigates causes of conflict in Northern Nigeria by assisting Bauchi and Sokoto states to increase access to basic education, especially for girls and Out-of-School-Children (OOSC). It aims to significantly improve reading outcomes for more than 1.4 million school-aged children.

Activities include training teachers and learning facilitators in formal schools and non-formal learning centers, strengthening school-based management committees and civil society organizations, and persuading parents to enroll their children in local schools; and providing textbooks and learning materials.

By working with four state Colleges of Education to include early grade reading concepts, techniques, practices, and materials in their curriculum, the activity will continue to build state capacity to deliver effective reading instruction.

This will improve reading proficiency for 900,000 school-aged children in grades 1 to 3, and 500,000 out of school children in non-formal learning settings.

In its final years of implementation, NEI+ will emphasize mainstreaming successful graduates, ages 6-11, into their local primary schools... ...