The Federal Government has established a Transitional learning centre at the Wassa Internally Displaced Persons Camp in the Federal Capital Territory to accelerate learning of IDPs children.

Inaugurating the learning facility in Wassa the National Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons Hajiya Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim explained that the pupils would be taught conventionally and vocationally to enable them catch up with their peers.

Hajiya Imaan said the Centre is the pilot as provision was made in the 2021 budget for four camps and would be expanded in the 2022 budget, while noting that educational specialists have been recruited for the exercise.

“From the 2021 budget we have the provision to do about four of them and the 2022 budget we can be able to expand the Scope of this. Its early learning from Nursery to year three so the kids can come on accelerated learning system whereby they can read and write to come at speed with their age mates because they are behind, they are leaning in emergency some had not come in contact with school the programme will afford them to learn not just conventional study but also learn vocational study”

These displacements keep coming up and as a government we are trying to catch, in some camps, this kind of facility do exist in different form, this project is a pilot and would be replicated in some camps for, she said.

The Executive Director Implementing Organization, Mrs Ifedinma Niigwe said the programme would operate within the Curriculum of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC to enable them compete favourable with the mates across the country

“The reason for this intervention is specifically on education and it comes with other things like feeding programme, WASH facilities we are teaching them in addition to academic to have life skills even after the camp. A lot of them have been out of school for a long time because of the conflict especially those from the North East, our main object here is to catch them up we are using the UBEC Curriculum so that they can cope anywhere they find themselves”

The Camp Coordinator, Mr. Geoffrey Bitrus appreciated the Federal Government for setting up the learning Center as it would give the children a sense of belonging.

FRCN