…as second batch of trainees graduate
Abeokuta: The South- West Resource Centre, an Ogun State Government owned ICT hub in conjunction with the CISCO Systems Nigeria Limited are set to upscale the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competencies of both the teachers and pupils in secondary schools across the four zones of Ogun State preparatory to the fourth industrial revolution and the emerging knowledge economy in the global world.
The project under a programme tagged “50 CISCO Academy Train The Trainers” is targeted at 50 Computer Teachers in Secondary Schools across the four zones of the state and the project is being executed in batches. The project which has entered its second batch has so far seen to the training of about 100 Computer Teachers in Secondary Schools across the state.
At the closing ceremony of the second batch of the trainees trainers of the intensive hands on computer training session, the General Manager , South – West Resource Centre , Mrs. Irene Ayorinde told newsmen that under the training , CISCO gave the Centre grants in kind to train Computer Teachers in Ogun State. She said ” the idea is to train 501 computer teachers in Secondary Schools across Ogun State . This is the second batch and once we finish this training and the teachers transfer the knowledge to their students, CISCO will give us another batch to train 50 more teachers and it goes on andon like that until it goes round”.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on ICT, Mr. Dayo Abiodun, had earlier explained the target of the Ogun State government on the project, informing that the government is trying to build capacity through ICT. In doing this, the Ogun State government according to him recognizes the position of ICT as an enabler regardless of what anyone studies in life. Mr Abiodun observed further that ” Whatever anyone do in life ICT is key. The key to us therefore is capturing the future generation. So, we are training the teachers who in turn will train the future generation and by so doing, we are preparing the future generation for the future of work and the work of the future , so to say”.
The CISCO Programme Manager, in Nigeria, Mr. Imoh Akpan also shed light on the motive behind the program and why CISCO is partnering the Ogun State government through the South West Resource Centre ” the idea is for us to provide digital skill development for the fourth industrial revolution. They are skills that are required for the fourth industrial revolution and our students need to be well acquitted with the skill and that’s why we are partnering the South West Resource Centre to be able to train teachers so that they can also go in and train the students’’, Akpan said.
Mr. Akpan stated further that the world is talking about knowledge economy and there is the need to develop capacity by training the students so that they can be able to function in the impending knowledge economy. He spoke about the project being executed in Ogun State. ” the teachers are going through ICT essentials which includes system repairs ,being able to assemble, fix and couple computers and mobile technology. The programme which is Capacity Building for 50 Secondary School Teachers is a pilot scheme that will be continuous as soon as the first and second batch achieve its goals’’.
He spoke about the response rate from the participants ” the response has been very encouraging and very positive . We see the desire in the teachers to learn and re-skill” .
The South West Instructor Trainer, Mr. Arigbabu Oluwaseyi corroborated Akpan on the goals of the training and what the participants are expected to learn when he said ” the program is to allow the teachers to demonstrate what they have been teaching theoretically. Through the training, the teacher should be able to trouble shoot a network, how to install a printer, how to update a printer driver and the likes’’.
Acording to Arigbabu, the competencies of students should be computer oriented and they should have something they can fall back on order than just carrying certificates about looking for white collar jobs, hene the training.
Some of the participants also spoke about the knowledge gained in the course of the training, saying it would go a long way in expanding their practical knowledge in order to be able to impact positively on the students. One of the participants, Mrs. Osunnuga Florence from Ogbogbo Baptist Senior School, Ijebu-Ode observed ‘’ It has been very educative. We’ve been exposed to so many things, especially for some of us who have been lagging behind in hands on practical experience. We are being exposed to miseries surrounding the box. We worked on the system unit; we checked the cables and connected it to mother board and we work on how to install the operating system and trouble shoot.
She capped her experience up by saying ‘’ when we get back to our school, we will be better equipped to manage the computer systems in our laboratories’’
Contributing, Mr Yahaya Ibrahim Oladipupo from Gateway ICT institute,Igbesa said the programme is more like an intervention that came at the appropriate time as it meets the demands of people like him who has been yearning for hands on computer training ‘’ it is a programme organized at a time it was highly needed. It was designed to educate people on the use of computer system , repairs, maintenance, most especially when teachers that are teaching computer are not sound in the area of computer practical. This programme has gone a long way to expose majority of us to the way the computer system is being trouble shooted, repaired among others’’.
The President, Computer Teachers Association of Nigeria, Ogun State Branch, Mr. Abiodun Osoko also lent his voice ‘’ this programme is one of the packages we are having towards school resumption. The Association work with stakeholders in maximizing the school curriculum. So, in preparing our Teachers towards these challenges we decided to partner with relevant stakeholders. I believe after this programme, we will have many of our teachers improve their knowledge in CISCO , because majority of them are already CISCO Certified’’.
