NGO unveils literacy programme for street-trading children

A non-governmental organisation, Onelife Initiative for Human Development, has launched a community-based learning programme targeting children who combine schooling with street trading in Oyo, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom states.

The project, tagged Standing School, will deliver basic literacy and numeracy lessons in community spaces such as viewing centres and television repair shops where children spend time after school.

Executive Director of the initiative, Sola Fagorusi, stated during the unveiling of the organisation’s permanent office in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, that the intervention seeks to address learning loss among children whose families depend on their income contributions.

“Some children, despite attending school, return home to engage in street trading because their parents depend on their contributions to household survival,” Fagorusi said.
He said the project would deploy digital educational resources to strengthen reading, spoken English and basic arithmetic for such children.

Fagorusi sought public support for the programme, stating that N30,000 would support one child, adding that “The group previously relied on institutional funding,” he said.

According to him, facilities in the new office consist of a digital media production studio that would be used to develop educational materials, with an enabling environment for programme implementation, innovation, collaboration and institutional development.

Director, Social Protection Coordination, Oyo State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Olanase Hadi, speaking with newsmen, said sustainable development could only be achieved through collaboration between government and civil society organisations.

He advocated greater attention to social protection, poverty reduction and social inclusion, in particular, young people, women, persons living with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

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Muyiwa Oladoja, who represented the Oyo State Agency for Youth Development, said the task of youth development should not be left to government alone, urging other NGOs to emulate Onelife’s commitment to youth-focused interventions.

In his remarks, the representative of the Oyo State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, Ola Kayode, said the organisation’s activities aligned with the objectives of youth development and human capital advancement.

Onelife currently operates in Ibadan, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State and Ikole-Ekiti, in Ekiti State, with programmes in about 22 states, according to the Executive Director.

“We have reached over 6,400 in-school adolescents with sexuality education and linked over 67,000 girls and women to reproductive health services in the last 10 years,” Fagorusi said.

Present at the event were representatives of government agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders who called for more collaborations to address learning gaps among vulnerable children.