The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Tuesday began a three-day ICT compliance training for 110 teachers drawn from different schools across the six area councils of the FCT.
The training was facilitated by officials from Ibrosoft International Development Foundation (IIDF).
Dr Olobashola Kolawole, Director of FCT Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), while declaring the training open stated that the world is fast changing, hence the need for teachers in the FCT to be ICT compliant.
“I want everyone, especially teachers, to be ICT compliant. In today’s world, ICT is very important. That’s why I was happy that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, approved this training through the Mandate Secretary.
“As a director, you need ICT knowledge. In fact, presently, before you can become a Permanent Secretary, you must take an exam with the use of the computer. Therefore, you can see that ICT is very important.
“Even as teachers, knowledge of ICT is very important in discharging your duties to students. If you must know, very soon, we will start kicking out teachers who are not ICT compliant. We are supposed to be moving forward, not backward.
“If you are not ICT compliant, what are you going to be teaching the students? Everyone has to sit up. My charge to participants in this training is to fit in or get kicked out,” Kolawole said.
On his part, the Director-General of IIDF, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said that at the end of the training, the teachers will know everything possible about ICT and apply the knowledge to their classroom activities.
“The world is fast changing and we must catch up with what others are doing and the reason for the training is to bring teachers up to speed on what is obtainable in today’s digital world.
“We are lagging behind in ICT. As teachers, we will learn many things about ICT and the digital world. At the end of the training, we will be able to create websites, Google accounts, virtual attendance and even hold virtual lessons with students.
“There are many things teachers can learn and apply to their existing knowledge. As a teacher with ICT knowledge, you can interact and teach your students from anywhere in the world.
“We have held this training in different parts of the country. We recently trained over 100,000 teachers in different LGAs of Kano State. Our target is to make sure that teachers in Nigeria are ICT compliant so that we can enhance quality education as obtainable in SDGs.
“We are collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Education, state governments and relevant stakeholders to do the training in six geopolitical zones,” Abdullahi said.
Also speaking, the National Program Manager of IIDF, Aliyu Usman, said that a teacher is a change agent who needs to be trained to be able to train others.
“The world is moving fast in ICT and we cannot be left behind and if teachers miss the training, it means a generation will miss it and this will continue to affect the development of the country.”
He advised the teachers to pay attention to the training, adding that it would not only benefit them, but the entire country, their children and the upcoming generations.
Usman said “if you do not belong to the digital age, then you are still analogue and it will not augur well for the country.”
One of the participants, Mohammed Loko, a teacher from Government Science Technical College (GSTC), Abaji, said the training came at the right time as it would help them prepare lesson notes.
Also speaking, another teacher and Head of Agric Unit, DSTI, Ruth Sofolabo, said the training would make her job easier as she writes a lot of memos in the office.
“With the ICT training, we will have an easy way to reach out to our subordinates and directors. You know papers are now very expensive, so we have to embrace technology,” she said.
