The Sapphires Development Initiative advocates lent their voices to the Transforming Education Summit which took place during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), from 16th – 19th of September 2022. The campaign was done online and its aim was to mobilize political ambition, action, solidarity, and solutions to transform education from now until 2030. The Sapphires Development Initiative themed their campaign: Transforming Education in Rural Nigeria Campaign which was aimed at advocating for quality education and recommending evidenced based solutions to the educational problems in rural Nigeria.
In Nigeria, about 10.5 million children are not in school even though primary education is officially free and compulsory (UNICEF 2022). This is even worse in the Northern part of the country especially due to the insurgence. Meanwhile, some schools in the South and East require extravagant payments to be educated. In addition, teachers are sorely remunerated as we see with the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities nationwide 7+ months strike. The educational system in Nigeria has been on a sour decline and this campaign was held to remind everyone, especially the Nigerian government about their duties to the community concerning education. The adoption of media advocacy was to guarantee that all active parties involved are reached, and much more, all passive participants understand the importance of education and how much its de-prioritization has (is) affecting the country.
Consequently, this led to the organization of an online campaign on some major social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp. This campaign consisted of educational-related posts such as our findings from a policy brief, we presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System in June 2022, quotes from a youth consultation session, and quotes from our SDG4 advocates who attended the summit side events. Lastly a recommendation list on solutions to the problems facing education in Nigeria which was shared by our tribemates on their personal social media accounts.
This campaign, which had over 200 posts on all these platforms, was able to reach over 37,500 individuals in total. This was through the major participation of about 60 TSDI tribe-mates across these social media platforms. To ensure the campaign was widely spread and engaging, TSDI made it a point of duty to celebrate all those who had more engagements with their posts. Turns out, more people got sensitized through this action. And so we acknowledge our tribemates for a job well done and for lending their voices to the transformation of education in rural Nigeria.
As a youth-led organization, we understand that it is crucial to lend our voices to advance sustainable development. The educational structure needs to be set right if we are to achieve a sustainable, peaceful, inclusive and prosperous future. Although there have been pandemic-related educational losses, there is in fact, more need to reimagine and reform educational systems and curb brain drain, and crime rate and embark on development in all sectors which ultimately begins with quality education. This is why we are constantly committed to changing the fundamental status quo of the different communities in the world starting with Nigeria. This is also why we lent our voices to the #letmelearn campaign. Join us to create this change as the campaign has not really ended until there is a visible change in the educational system of Nigeria. Education is our right! Support SDG4 in rural Nigeria!!
Education is everyone’s right.!!