Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) is a five-year initiative started by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote early grade reading in Nigeria.
The organization claimed in a statement provided to journalists that LEARN to Read will help improve the reading abilities of more than 3.5 million students in 5,900 schools and the ability of more than 35,000 teachers, headteachers, and school support staff to support early grade reading in roughly 6,000 schools.
"The new USAID activity will make sure that school-aged children and youth in Nigeria are able to build essential social and emotional skills while progressing to higher levels of education, training, and employment," Supervisory Program Office Director USAID/Nigeria, Stephen Menard said at the launch.
The Federal Ministry of Education acknowledges USAID's work over the past 20 years to increase literacy in Nigeria through its creative programs, stated Minister of State for Education Goodluck Nana Opiah at the event. "LEARN to Read will expand on the close cooperation with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, language/curriculum specialists, and Ministry of Education to enhance mother tongue-based medium of instruction in the early grades."