The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), in partnership with the Ministry of Education, established a Digital Resource Centre (DRC) to train school teachers and students in digital literacy.
Dr. Hafsat Lawal, the DRC’s chief of capacity building, stated at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday that the centre featured modern learning tools to promote up-to-date learning.
Ms Lawal stated that through smart schools, the centre will be in the forefront of empowering teachers and students with ICT to improve teaching and learning pedagogies.
“We have successfully trained administrators, teachers including IT personnel in UBE smart schools and effective schools from basic literacy to advanced topics,” she said.
She added that the centre actively cooperated with experts at both the local and international levels to raise awareness of the importance of thriving in the field of ICT.
Prof. Bashir Galadanci, the centre’s director, stated that the commission had established the institution to modernise the educational system so that it could compete with other advanced countries.
”We need to train our students in such a way that they can compete not only within themselves but with other countries too. They need skills and training to enhance themselves.
“We already have 37 smart schools in all states in Nigeria, we hope that we can expand our reach to the local government areas where every school are facilitated with sophisticated learning equipment,” he said.
Mr Galadanci added that Nigerian schools were lacking behind in the area of teachers welfare noting that there was need to encourage teachers for effective teaching and learning.
“It is surprising when you go to advanced countries and ask pupils about their careers, they will proudly say they want to become a teacher which is not applicable to Nigeria’s case.
“This is because teachers there have the flashiest cars but here teachers are left with tattered motorcycles.
“When you ask a Nigerian pupil what they want to become in future, they will practically mention professions like doctors, lawyers, bankers or even a president. Forgetting that teaching is the most important profession.
“The governments need to upgrade teachers’ welfare where they can have access to modern gadgets such as tablets, Ipads, and fingerprints sensor scanner and the rest,” he said.