The development Research and Projects Center (dRPC) working in collaboration with National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) convened a national ECCD Roundtable at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre on 28th October 2026 in the nation’s capital, Abuja Nigeria.
The Roundtable brought together national ECCD curriculum planners from NERDC, Special Advisor to the Federal Minister of State for Education, NIPSS Director of Research Professor Musa Umar, as well as the senior advisor to the Kano state Executive Governor. Mallam Haladu Mohammed, Technical Advisor to Kano State Governor on Education Reform shared the Kano state government’s recent adoption of the dRPC’s Community-based ECCD schools for play-based learning, on the sides of the International Day of the Girl Child celebrations noting the cost effectiveness of community schools. The Director of Planning Research and Statistics of the Kano state Ministry of Education went on record on confirming his participation in the evaluation dRPC’s 8 year Community-based ECCD project for play-based learning led by Professor Bala Ado Kofar Mata, of Bayero University Kano, noting the effectiveness of play based learning pedagogy for child development.
By the end of the one-day Roundtable, the Commissioners of Education from Niger and Borno state as well as the Benue state Commissioner of Humanitarian Affairs and the Chairman of the Board of SUBEB, Sokoto state, recognized the value of the dRPC’s ECCD model for states with children living should periods of insecurity. Government officials from these states also committed to adoption of the dRPC’s Kano ECCD experiment calling for immediate steps to be taken for replication and adoption. The Roundtable ended with Commissioners from Niger and Benue states specifically inviting the dRPC to meetings with the Executive Governors in the coming week to share the Community-based ECCD model for replication.
