She made the remark recently at the opening of a vocational training organised for students, in conjunction with the Indian company.
Mrs Monayajo said partnering with the Indian firm on entrepreneurial education will expose Nigerian students to international experts for different skills development, and thereby reduce truancy and financial dependency on parents.
She said Orion Edutech’s subjects are more relevant and practicable than most of the subjects designed for entrepreneurship education in Nigeria’s secondary school curriculum, adding that the programme is a conferencing training system whereby students learn different skills live as if they were in India.
She said: “We have registered our students for two years training in two subjects – phone and laptop repairing skills. We hope that by the time the students complete their academic programme, they will have been self-sufficient, generating income for themselves in an ideal way.
“It is high time Nigerian government provided an enabling technological environment and give priority to small-scale industry development. It is not out of place for Nigeria to have a cell phone and laptop production and assembly firms for exportation.
“I believe Nigeria has what it takes to start cell phone production plant. In view of this, I want to encourage proprietors of other schools in Lagos and other states in the country to key into this special training and give their students relevant skills that they can live. This will go a long way to produce productive graduates even at secondary school level.”
Some of the students of Soundhope Academy who spoke with Tribune Education confirmed the international standard of the training, affirming that they could relate with their teachers in India in real time.
The country manager for Orion Edutech Africa Limited, Mr Chandan Anthony Singah, stated that the instructional design of the Orion senior secondary school vocational training is to use master trainers who are professionals based in India to teach Nigerian students via the internet, live.
“We are in Lagos State to help as many schools as possible in vocational skill development. We have two schools in Lagos already, Soundhope Academy at Ipaja and Graine Royale International School Jankara Ijaiye, Lagos.
“We have the facilities to cater for as many schools as possible in the country. It is my joy that every other proprietor of schools in Lagos and elsewhere would enrol with Orion vocational training to enjoy Indian expertise in their vocational studies,” he said.
Director, Educational Advancement Centre, the facilitator of Orion Dutch’s mission in Nigeria, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose, stated that Orion was invited to Nigeria to help Nigerian institutions of learning to build functional vocational skills that would make their students self-sufficient.
“Orion has studied NERDC and WAEC curriculum and has updated it with content that assures the students’ complete knowledge regarding the subject and skill according to market demand. Orion can help Nigeria actualize its dream of youth unemployment eradication,” he said
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