Minister Restates Commitment to ICT-enhanced Education

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu has expressed the hope of seeing the sector embrace the use of technologies to meet the human resource requirements of the nation for attaining sustainable socio-economic development, global competitiveness, as well as the individual’s ability to survive in the contemporary society.

The minister made this known at the official opening and inauguration of UNITeS Cisco Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Centre at Queen’s College, Lagos. The event also witnessed the inauguration of IoT Students’ Ambassadors.

Adamu, who was represented by the Director of ICT in the Federal Ministry of Education, Ifegwu Orji, noted that qualitative education in the modern world is intrinsically tied to the development and deployment of ICT in education.

He said ICT as an enhancer of education has transformed education delivery from being the transmission of information by the teacher as the custodian of knowledge to the learner as the receiver of the knowledge transmitted and the school from being a teacher-centred agency.

“Today, teachers are seen as facilitators or coaches of learning or in some cases as change agents or activators and the student as an active partner in learning. The school also has become an open space to learners who initiate and acquire their own learning and expand their knowledge through interaction among themselves and with the teachers. This kind of interaction is made easier by the IoT.”

According to Adamu, to demonstrate the ministry’s commitment towards the delivery of qualitative education with the resultant production of the requisite manpower that can survive in the modern society, contribute to sustainable national development and compete globally, it approved the establishment of the Cisco UNITeS IoT innovation centres in six federal unity colleges in the six geo-political zones for the 2017/2018 academic session.