By Samuel Luka
Bauchi state government, philanthropists and other well-to-do in the society have been urged to support child education by leveraging on the availability of Digital Learning programme under the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) initiative to improve Learning outcomes in the state.
The UNICEF Education Specialist, Bauchi Field Office, Abdulrahman Ado stated this on Thursday during a one-day media dialogue to Celebrate the 2024 International Day of Education held in Toro local government area of Bauchi state.
The initiative which was launched in Bauchi in 2022, according to UNICEF, is aimed at Leveraging Digital Technology to improve Learning outcomes in Bauchi state.
Ado who called for proper monitoring of the programme to ensure its success, said that the schools need to be visited periodically to see the level of usage of the tabulates and other digital Learning gadgets provided to the schools.
The Education Specialist who enjoined the Government of Bauchi state to take ownership of the learning gadgets, also reminded the benefitting communities that those gadgets belongs to them and not the UNICEF.
"Sometimes the teachers think the Nigerian Learning Passport belongs to the UNICEF, but no, it belongs to Bauchi state government and it is the responsibility of the state Government to provide Education for all Learners", Ado pointed out.
The UNICEF Education Specialist who stressed the need for developing local content to complement the existing one, urged the state government to establish the Nigeria Learning Passport studio and procure more of the tabulates and other gadgets required for the digital Learning.
Ado who observed that the number of tabulates, Projectors provided are not enough, considering the number of schools and learners in Bauchi, appealed to the state government to procure more tabulates and other gadgets to reach more learners.
While commending the recent move by the Bauchi government to recruit additional teachers, Ado urged the government to use the Teacher Management Information System (TMIS) in the recruitment process.
He said going by the importance of digitalization of Education Management Information System (EMIS), there is the need to identify the people that will supply the platform with data among the teachers.
"We are calling on the government to please use the Teacher Management Information System (TMIS) in recruiting these teachers that is been approved by the government", the Education Specialist requested.
He also called for strengthening of infrastructure in schools, including the provision of security and electricity to ensure the safety of the gadgets and effective utilization.
"We need to see government committed in terms of resources so that we can uptake users of the Nigeria Learning Passport, so that we can make use of the opportunity that is there", he said.
On her part, Director Planning Research and Statistics, Bauchi state Ministry of Education, Ai'shatu Aminu said almost all the schools across 20 Local Governments of the state have been enrolled, with the exception of the newly admitted students.
She disclosed that the programme has 1,110 tabulates were distributed across 55 primary and Junior Secondary schools, 15 IQS, 40 Conventional schools, with each having 22 tabulates.
Our correspondent gathered that the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) is an online e-learning platform with mobile and offline capability that enable continuous access to quality education. It is highly flexible and adaptable, allowing states to easily and quickly adopt the platform as their learning management systems or use it to complement existing digital learning efforts.
The platform has been developed with a unique suite of online and offline functions that cater for deployment in places with poor connectivity, often locations where children find themselves unable to access quality digital education, tools and content.The platform serves national curriculum content as well as global supplementary resources - Open Educational Resources (OERs) to support learners and improve learning outcomes.
Nigeria Learning Passport is also an 'education model' for early childhood education, primary and secondary education, adolescent skills, and technical and vocational education. Every user has a personalized record of their learning history which is unique to them. It is also a model for teachers and parents to receive the tools and empowerment in order to support student learning.
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