The Oando Foundation, along with partners like TaRL Africa, QEDA, and Hilltrust Top Foundation, launched the Foundational Learning Improvement Programme (FLIP) to tackle Nigeria's urgent learning crisis.

Officials from UBEC and the Federal Ministry of Education emphasized the importance of early reading skills, teacher training, and evidence-based policies to reduce learning poverty and foster educational development.

QEDA's Nurudeen Lawal pointed out that almost 40 million school-aged children in Nigeria need support, urging increased corporate and philanthropic investment in education.

Tonia Uduimoh, head of the Oando Foundation, highlighted that Nigeria faces a severe learning crisis, with 70% of children unable to read with understanding and nearly 9 million children out of school, calling for immediate action.

The program aims to improve foundational literacy and numeracy in states like Ebonyi, Plateau, Sokoto, and Adamawa through community-based hubs, localized materials, and innovative methods such as mother tongue reading and Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL).

It has strengthened teacher capacity, developed culturally relevant assessment tools, and tested scalable models to promote systemic change beyond pilot projects.

A dissemination workshop in Abuja brought stakeholders together to discuss results, lessons learned, and strategies for policy integration, funding, and collaboration to sustain progress.

Hafsatu Hamza of TaRL stressed the importance of innovative classroom approaches to prevent children from being left behind, with stakeholders praising the foundation's efforts and calling for broader collaboration.