Education stakeholders have called for training of teachers in Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), as part of efforts to strengthen the sector especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
They made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Thursday.
The chairman of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Plateau, Mr Ayuba Gana, said that some teachers were not ICT-compliant especially in the rural areas and urban suburbs and would need such training.
He said that the training was critical for the adoption of e-learning approach especially amidst pandemics such as COVID-19.
“We have 75 per cent or 80 per cent of teachers left in the dark.
“Even though government cannot do everything, it should make ICT knowledge cardinal in its planning.
“This is because if a teacher is not computer compliant, he cannot lead the child to access some knowledge or educational programmes online,” he said.
He stressed that training and retraining of teachers in ICT should be premised on collaborative efforts and made mandatory, saying indigenous development associations and religious bodies should be involved to augment government efforts.
He said that the gesture would be part of their inputs in investing in their children’s education, saying the action would ensure that they became the strength of the communities.
Similarly, Prof. Matthew Sule, the Executive Chairman of the State’s Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), said that teachers should be trained to enable them to become good facilitators for e-learning.
He said that corporate efforts were required through contributions of development partners and community leadership, in investing for the training of the teachers, as their complementary effort toward ensuring improvement in the education sector.
“Development partners should invest in the training of the teachers; there should be corporate efforts from rural communities, leadership of traditional communities to support what is being done by government,” he said.
The Executive Director, Girls Education Mission (GEM), Mrs Keturah Shammah, said that teachers should be supported in the use of digital resources, saying it would enable them to incorporate technology effectively in their duties.
She said that GEM in partnership with TY Danjuma Foundation, was working toward ensuring the accessibility of education to leaners by building the capacity of public primary and junior secondary school teachers with professional skills including digital literacy.
According to her, the partnership is to enable them to function well during emergencies.
“GEM has launched a Teachers Learning Circle and we have also started a digital literacy programme known as “Digital Balance for Better Learning Outcome”.
“It will provide teachers, students and and young people the practical digital skills training,” she said.(NAN)
