UBEC Charges States to Replicate Smart Schools Initiative in all Senatorial Zones
By Abubakar Baba Ahmad.
The Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC has urged State governments across the country to replicate its initiative in establishing more Smart Schools for the institutionalisation of technology-based educational delivery in public schools.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission Dr Hameed Bobboyi made the call at the opening of Smart School Fair 2024 held at Smart School Model One Bauchi.
Dr Hameed Bobboyi represented by the Coordinator Smart Schools and Head Capacity Development of the commission Dr Hafsat Lawal Kontagora said ICT-based teaching and learning have become the new normal across the globe, hence the need for governments at the state level to embrace such initiative for the benefit of the poor and less privileged children in the society.
“The effort to transform the education system of Nigeria to meet the global way i teaching and learning which is now Smart education and through the Smart schools, UBEC is trying to see that the child of the masses is able to access that kind of education that the child of the elite is accessing, maybe in private schools or even abroad”, Bobboyi highlights.
He noted that the first six Model One Smart Schools are currently being run by the commission with the technical support of Korea International Cooperation Agency KOICA, in the area of capacity building for teachers as well as content creation and development using modern technologies.
“By building this model smart schools – one in each state- it is serving as a model do that the states can see how it should be done, copied and duplicated and as we move on it becomes available maybe in each Senatorial zone or even LGAs in the near future”, the UBEC Boss hints.
On her part, the State Commissioner of Education Dr Jamila Dahiru represented the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Alhaji Ali Babayo promised continued support to all activities of the school to ensure the realisation of its objectives.
In a remark, the Executive Chairman SUBEB Alhaji Adamu Duguri represented by the Special Assistant Alhaji Abubakar Mansoor Abdu disclosed that the State Government has provided ten million naira as a take-up grant for conducive teaching and learning.
Alhaji Adamu Duguri said Smart School Fair is an avenue to showcase the talents of the pupils and the school’s capacity in the use of cutting-edge technology to innovative learning methods.
“The Board has included smart school in its BESDA/SUBEB portal to get access for teachers/pupils and parents for content learning. I learn that the smart fair is a competition amongst the 6 KOICA model schools in the country: I assure you the Board support in order to excel in the competitions”, He states.
In an interview with Radio Nigeria, the KOICA Director in Nigeria Mr Sungil Son represented by the Field Manager Ubion Consortium Mr Ilseok Yang, who said so far 72 teachers have been trained, noted that 70 additional teachers from each of the six model one smart schools in the FCT, Bauchi, Kano, Ekiti, Cross Rivers and Anambra states making 420 would follow suit.
Mr Sungil Son further disclosed that from the end of this year, KOICA is planning to expand the project’s support to 14 additional smart schools with focus on teachers as well as PTA and SBMC in the area of capacity building in addition to the content development delivery using the digital studios.
In a related development, the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB says admission into the Smart Model One School is free and open for all eligible pupils and students.
The Director School Services and Overseer of the Smart School Malam Zuhairu Usman stated this while speaking to Radio Nigeria shortly after the School’s 2024 Exhibition in Bauchi.
Malam Zuhairu Usman said the criteria for intake include four years for ECCDE, six years for primary one and 12 years plus school leaving certificate for upper basic one, with maximum of 69 pupils for ECCDE and 75 students for upper basic.
He expressed optimism that with the construction of four mega schools by the present administration, there would be proliferation of tech-savvy schools in the nearest future across the state.
The Director School Services who raised alarm over the low commitment of parents towards the education of their children, urged them to take advantage of such facilities to better the life of future leaders.
Earlier, the Principal of the Smart School, Malam Tahir Inuwa appealed to the state government to provide a utility vehicle and welfare to teachers in terms of hostel accomodation to ease transportation and other logistic challenges.
The 2024 Bauchi Smart School Fair featured various exhibitions to include songs, debate, art and craft, cultural dances( Jarawa, Fulani and Hausa) among others.
