South Korea to establish six model smart schools in Nigeria

The Government of South Korea, through its development agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), is providing support for the establishment of six model Smart Schools in Nigeria.

Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), disclosed this during a meeting with the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Kim Pan-Kyu, at the UBEC Digital Resource Centre in Abuja.

During the meeting, Ambassador Kim Pan-Kyu visited the UBEC Digital Resource Centre to inspect the facilities set up for the training of teachers on smart education.

He engaged with Korean experts who are in Nigeria to train Nigerian teachers and head teachers on operating smart schools, as well as providing intensive training on content development.

The UBEC boss thanked the Government and people of Korea for the tremendous support right from the beginning to the stage where 14 out of the 37 Smart Schools being established in Nigeria have taken off.

He said: “We are exceptionally happy to have His Excellency, the Ambassador of Korea to Nigeria, visiting the UBEC Digital Resource Centre not only to see the infrastructure that we have for training of teachers but also witnessing the Korean experts who have recently arrived the country to help in the training of teachers from various parts of Nigeria.

“We have been to Korea ourselves and we have to express deep appreciation to the Government of Korea for supporting our Smart School project.

“We went to Korea, see what is going and a lot of teachers, particularly the head teachers also went there to receive training and now a lot of experts are here with us to impart additional knowledge in these teachers on how to run a modern smart school, the kind that we have established here in Nigeria,” he said.

He added that this was something that would help Nigeria move forward in a very serious manner in the area of smart education.

Bobboyi noted that there were some challenges including the issue of timely completion of the projects, saying there were still a few projects struggling to be completed “but we hope that majority of the schools would take off by September this year.”

ALSO READ: TETFund debunks report on alleged N7.6bn contracts

He disclosed that so far 14 Smart Schools have taken off, expressing optimism that the remaining would come upstream.

The UBEC boss further announced that the studio equipment which Korea had promised Nigeria had arrived.

According to him, KOICA is supporting in the establishment of six (6) out of the 37 smart schools being established by the Federal Government across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“So, we are pushing very hard to deploy similar equipment in the rest of the schools to be sure that we are making progress without compromising the quality and standards.

“They are training all the head teachers from the various schools involving teachers from non-KOICA schools. It is a very engaging exercise,” he said.

Bobboyi said the issue of power which is a common challenge in Nigeria is being worked out because the Smart Schools could not function without power. He added that the issue of internet connectivity is also a challenge but all have been factored into in the planning for the establishment of the schools.

“We are exploring all possible ways to minimize the impact of these challenges and to finally overcome those challenges for the success of smart school programme and the success of education in Nigeria,” he stated.

The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Kim Pan-Kyu, earlier expressed satisfaction with the progress being made by UBEC in the implementation of smart education in Nigeria and promised continued support of his country to Nigeria.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE