THE Federal Government has enlisted the support of the South Korean government in addressing the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria estimated at 10.2 million.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, made the appeal in Abuja when the South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Major General Lee In-Tae (retd), paid him a working visit.
Adamu also disclosed that the Ministry of Education had indicated interest in collaborating with the South Korean government on training Nigerian students on multimedia knowledge and skills.
He said this became expedient in view of the crucial role of technology in the attainment of the nation’s developmental objectives.
Apart from the multimedia sub-sector, the minister also enjoined the ambassador to explore ways of helping the Nigerian government to tackle issues of out-of-school children, the girl-child and technical education, as well as encourage exchange programmes between South Korea and Nigerian universities.
Adamu, who said that the government was aware of the importance of education in development, expressed its interest in utilising the sector to achieve the developmental goals of the present administration.
He emphasised that technical, vocational education and training is an area the Federal Government is interested in exploring to achieve its development mandate.
Jubilation in Anambra Community over Chidoka’s court victory
The minister also urged the Korean delegation to explore more areas of collaboration with the Federal Government, adding that his ministry was keen on working with capable development partners.
Speaking earlier, the South Korean Ambassador had informed the minister that the visit was necessitated by the interest of his government in seeking areas of cooperation in the education sector to assist in the development of the country.
In the light of this, he disclosed that the South Korean government was interested in establishing a multimedia institution in the country to train Nigerian students on current knowledge and skills of the multimedia world.
Major General In-Tae said that the institution, a product of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), is keen on providing world class multimedia knowledge and skills to its trainees.
In his remarks, Country Director of KOICA in Nigeria, Woochan Chang, said that the establishment of the institution is indicative of the interest of the Korean government in developing Nigeria’s manpower.
He disclosed that the Korean model school is to be established in November this year, with the knowledge and cooperation of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).