Lagos State government on Wednesday gathered stakeholders in the education sector at the Anchor Event Centre, Agidingbi, Lagos, to introduce the Eko Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EkoEXCEL).
The EkoEXCEL involves the use of technology to support teachers to improve their classroom delivery and monitor learners’ performance.
Speaking at the event, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said tablets would be given to teachers as working tools that contain learning materials, adding that the teachers would be monitored through the tablets.
“The tablet is to assist us to monitor because it will indicate where a teacher is. So the moment they turn it on, as the head teacher or as somebody that is monitoring, you see the teacher and what the teacher is teaching,” he said.
He also added that the tablet was designed to be durable and could last two weeks once fully charged.
The Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), Wahab Alawiye-King, said teachers would be trained to use EkoEXCEL in three phases beginning from December 2019.
He said teachers were at the heart of successful learning. And to ensure improved outcomes for pupils, the starting point must be the continuous improvement of teaching practices.
“In other words, our literacy rate will not grow without having teachers who are equipped to teach pupils born in the 21st Century,” he noted.
Also speaking at the event, Education Commissioner, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, said the tablet would be uploaded with the curriculum and lesson notes.
“The tablet is a device that would support what they are teaching in the classroom. What we try to look for is appropriate technology. We loaded our curriculum on it; we loaded lesson notes; we loaded how the teacher would teach each topic. It is not that we will give teachers the tablets and leave them. There would be people who would be coming to monitor them. We are going to work with the community, parents’ forum and the school-based management committees so that they go on this journey with us,” she said.
The EkoEXCEL would be launched in 300 schools with 4,000 teachers trained. In all, 14,000 teachers are expected to be re-trained under the programme.
Good, education getting better in Nigeria. It should also be done in other states of the country.