Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The quest for digital literacy of teachers in Abia State has received a major boost as UNICEF, Wednesday commenced training of teachers on digital learning tools to enhance their proficiency.
UNICEF said 500 teachers would benefit from the exercise but 100 teachers from Ohafia Local Government Area are to benefit from the current exercise.
Addressing the teachers during a two-day workshop at Enuda Primary School Abiriba, Ohafia LGA, Education Specialist, UNICEF Enugu Field Office, Dr Agatha Nzeribe, said the aim of the training was to expose teachers to the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) – a digital platform developed to mitigate the challenge of insufficient instructional materials.
She explained that NLP enables teachers to gain free online access to relevant materials needed to effectively impart knowledge.
“Teachers and students using the platform can have access to developed lesson notes on different topics,” she said, adding that NLP came into focus during the COVID-19 era.
She further explained that the training was aimed at teaching teachers to adopt blended learning approach that would help scale up their abilities for better results.
The UNICEF Education Specialist further said that the training was part of efforts to prepare Abia teachers and other education stakeholders ahead of the Global Partnership for Education GPE System Transformation Grant, STG, fund disbursement recently approved for the state.
She disclosed that $7 million US dollars had been approved for the state, adding that capacity has to be built for teachers before the up-take of the money.
GPE is a World Bank-hosted multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to strengthen global education.
The UNICEF Education Specialist who disclosed that the current training was bankrolled by “IHS Towers,” said more teachers in other LGAs would also benefit from the project.
“This is UNICEF support for Abia and we got it from IHS Towers for the implementation of NLP activities,” she said.
One of the facilitators and UNICEF Desk Officer, Enugu SUBEB, Mr Benjamin Ugwuanyi, said the need for digital competence among teachers in a technology-driven society, necessitated the workshop.
He said: “There has been a paradigm shift in the way we teach in our classrooms. We are in a technology-driven era, and we have to carry teachers along.
“This is a digital learning platform for pupils in the classroom, for teachers that teach them, and even for parents and anybody who wishes to learn new things using the platform.”
Ugwuanyi said the essence of the platform was to provide quality education materials amid shortage of instructional materials.
He further explained that the platform is free and curriculum-aligned, adding that the contents are packaged to help students in exam classes.
Some of the participants including Isaac Kalu, a Basic 6 teacher at Ndiuduma Ukwu community school Ohafia; and Mrs Georgina Otah of Enuda Primary School Abiriba, said that training had added value to them.
They commended UNICEF for the gesture and appealed that it assists teachers to acquire some of the digital tools.
