BREAKING: Zamfara State Team Awarded International Jolly Phonics Team of the Year 2017

A project team from Zamfara State has been awarded the International Jolly Phonics Team of the year – 2017. The award was presented to Musa Almu, Mohammed Abbas and Nafisa Labaran during a recent courtesy call to Zamfara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) by Gary Foxcroft, the CEO of the UK based not-for-profit organisation – Universal Learning Solutions.

Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children and also for teachers, who can see their students achieve. Since 2006 primary school teachers in Nigeria have also been benefiting from being trained and resourced in this method thanks to a philanthropic offer made by Jolly Learning Ltd (UK), which has seen over 47,000 government primary school teachers receive Jolly Phonics training and 3.5 million pupil work books donated for free. Such has been the great success of the project to date that many other countries, such as Ghana, India, Pakistan and Cameroon, are now looking to Nigeria as the leading nation in the use of Jolly Phonics to fight illiteracy.

In Zamfara State, with support from the SUBEB Chairman, Hon. Murtala Jangebe, the project has trained over 2,500 government school teachers in Jolly Phonics, with ongoing monitoring and mentoring of teachers provided by the project team, who also provide prizes to the best teachers, organise teacher leader network meetings and use WhatsApp groups to communicate with, and motivate, teachers.

Universal Learning Solutions’ Chief Executive Officer – Gary Foxcroft - commented: “We are proud of the great work carried out by the project team in Zamfara who have gone above and beyond what is expected of them to ensure the quality of the Jolly Phonics project in the state.

Their levels of commitment, passion and dedication to the project continue to inspire all of us at Universal Learning Solutions. Our hope is now that the State Universal Basic Education Board will maintain their support for the project so that many more children can access their right to literacy in Zamfara state”.

State Jolly Phoenics coordinator, Musa Almu on stage with his award

State co-ordinator ii, Abbas Muhammad Tsafe with his award

State co-ordinator iii, Nafisa Labaran with her award