ICT critical to achieving quality education in schools —FG

THE Federal Government has pledged its commitment to providing the right environment in schools for teaching and learning to be Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven.

Mr Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, made the comments in Abuja while declaring open the Skool Media Start-Up workshop and capacity building programme for selected Federal Unity Colleges.

The Skool Media programme is one of the initiatives which the Federal Ministry of Education has put in place to integrate ICT in education in Nigeria.

Echono disclosed that a total of seven Federal Unity Colleges benefitted from the pilot phase of the programme, and that after satisfactory performance of the pilot phase, the programme had been extended to cover 24 schools drawn from all the six geopolitical zones of the country.

He said the implementation of the programme would provide digital classrooms, library upgrade, capacity building, educational tablets, among others, in the selected unity colleges as a foundation for the transformation of education in the schools.

He said, “Education is regarded globally as the bedrock of sustainable development and for the individual’s ability to survive meaningfully and compete globally in the contemporary society.

“ICT, on its part, is the driver of competitiveness in the world today. It has redefined efficiency and productivity and changed the dynamics of the world of work. It has also expanded social networking beyond borders and introduced new paradigms in education delivery and administration.

“In implementing this programme, we should go beyond the acquisition of basic ICT skills to fostering the development of critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills among others.”

The Director of ICT in the ministry, Mr Ifegwu Oji, in his remark said the programme, which is being implemented in partnership with the Skool Media, holds potential to promote quality in education and provide solution and means for education development.

He urged the participants to embrace the government’s initiative by deploying massive ICT infrastructure in the colleges and for training of teachers and students for them to be globally competitive.