UNICEF, FMOE Train Media Chiefs on Enrolment Drive
Segun Awofadeji
The Federal Ministry of Education (FMOE), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), in collaboration with UNICEF has conducted a one-day planning meeting with media chiefs on the 2017 National Enrolment Campaign to map out strategies for effective engagement of the media for reaching out to out-of-school children in the country.
THISDAY reports that participants at the meeting include among others media chiefs from Bauchi, Bornu, Ebonyi, Yobe, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Adamawa, FCT, FMOE and UNICEF.
The UNICEF Education Specialist, Azuka Menkiti, who spoke at the meeting held in Kaduna recently, said it was aimed at accelerating media participation for increased demand for education for children, especially girls.
While calling on the media to create the needed awareness and build momentum for collective responsibility towards the success of the programme, she highlighted the modalities for collaboration with the media in the joint 2017 enrolment/birth registration campaign activities.
The education specialist noted that in the country, about 10.5 million children are not in school with more girls out of school than boys particularly in the northern part of the country. She stressed that Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children in the world.
“Socio-cultural norms and practices deny children the right to education in some parts of the country,” she said, adding, “Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are unlikely to meet the target for education for all children by 2020- the target of the SDGs.”
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, stressed the need for closer collaboration with the media and other stakeholders to achieve the set target.
It called on radio and television stations in the participating states to collaborate with UNICEF in the production and airing of jingles, discussion programmes, drama, talk shows, special reports and documentary programmes.
The communiqué said the funding for producing the contents should be reported by UNICEF while the airing would be done by media houses.
According to the communiqué, UNICEF should embark on high level advocacy to public and private media establishments, while the print media should generate and publish features, articles and write-ups on enrolment and birth registration drive.
It further called on the print media to cover enrolment and with birth registration campaign and the News Agency of Nigeria to post messages online.
The communiqué commended the federal ministry of education and UNICEF for organising the interactive session to build strong partnership to create awareness on this year’s enrolment drive and birth registration activities.