Innovative Teacher Makes Dolls, Learning Materials from Locally Sourced Items to Teach Children in Pre-primary

Cursory: Recently there has been a wave of really enthusiastic and present teachers who are genuinely interested in the welfare of school children. Binta Musa, has found her way into this group of awesome teachers because of her enthusiasm towards her profession and pupils.

Binta Musa, a 47-year-old teacher at the Ali Fodio primary school in Bodinga, a community about 33.7 Kilometers from the great city of Sokoto, has made making learning fun for her pupil is top on her list.

She told reporters that she sources local materials including pieces of fabric and plastics to produce playing and learning items like dolls for the over 40 pupils in her class – an Early Childhood Care, Development and Education class for children under the age of eight.

Early Childhood Education (ECE) also known as nursery education, is a branch of the educational theory described as an important period in a child’s development process. It involves the use of play-based education for the learning process among children.

Some of the benefits of play-based learning among children include improved psychosocial skills, the building of self-esteem, critical thinking and innovative ability, and becoming explorative with ideas and many others.

For Musa, this involves going the extra mile to ensure that the children in her ECCDE class have all they need for learning and development. Speaking to reporters, Musa said:

“I have my materials and most of the times I gather them to produce some of the toys and items we use for learning here.

“I make dolls, I have some plastic bottle covers which we use for numeracy. I learnt how to make these materials at a seminar organised by the Primary Education Board.”

Musa’s efforts are evident in the learning activities practised by her pupils. For Salma, Fatima, Mariam and their classmates/playmates – all between the ages of 3 and 5 – learning has just been made easy and interesting.

Speaking in Sokoto at a media dialogue organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information in October, Yetunde Oluwatosin, the international agency’s education specialist said that while the early learning process is a critical time for every child, over one in every three children, between the ages of three and four attend ECE.

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