EKOEXCELshowcasedat28thEconomic Summit

NewGlobe Nigeria, a global leader in learning and learning expert, has showcased the success story of its EKOEXCEL at the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES28).

Its Group Managing Director, Omowale David-Ashiru, described EKOEXCEL to the gathering as a successful local education transformation programme for eradicating learning poverty in Nigeria

EKOEXCEL is being implemented by Lagos State while Edo and Kwara state governments are also implementing such holistic methodology

Specifically, the programme is being used in Lagos State to drive excellence in learning for 500,000 pupils across public primary schools Through the programme, over 14 thousand existing government teachers are being upskilled through re-training and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms.

The NES #28 convened national and global policymakers, business leaders, development partners, civil society leaders and scholars to articulate the country’s development imperatives that satisfy the need for economic security and sustainability, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability

It was attended by many leaders, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed; other ministers as well as members of the private sector

David-Ashiru spoke as a panellist on an interactive session tagged, “Eradicating Learning Deprivation” alongside Ms Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative, Mrs. Maryam Uwais (MFR), Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Ms Abisola Obasanya, Director Arc Lights Foundation and Dr Hamid Bobboyi, Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) The session discussed solving Nigeria’s learning deprived children rate of 70%, according to UNICEF

She noted that learning deprivation or learning poverty is a global problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in African countries like Nigeria, where the combination of outof-school children and the poor rate of learning for those in school gravely threaten the potential of future economic growth and social development.

She cited the June 2022 report by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF FCDO, which shed light on proven solutions, prescribing focus areas for progress

According to David-Ashiru, “There are existing examples of a holistic methodology already delivering value for Nigerian children in Edo, Lagos and Kwara states”

“There are three distinct examples in Nigeria running statewide intricate public-school systems built upon four core aspects: A digital learning platform, adaptive instructional content, teacher training and coaching, and 360-degree support

“Within this holistic system are many sets of practices, such as school management, learning and development, instructional guidance, and feedback Schools in this system are being transformed using technology and data, every school is transparent and accessible to its political leaders; decisions and policies are databased and children are learning at a speed not seen before in Nigeria

“This learning methodology was the subject of a two-year study led by 2019 Nobel Prize winning Professor Michael Kremer.

“The Kremer Study finds that NewGlobe methods deliver unequivocal major learning gains across every academic year in NewGlobe-supported schools, compared with other schools,” the group managing director said

These are particularly large in the “key grades” for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), primary classes One and Two

Kremer and his co-authors found that students in early childhood years supported by NewGlobe received the equivalent of an additional year and a half of learning in two years

Political leaders across the continent are coming to learn from Nigeria’s systems and then implementing them in their own countries.