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From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Federal government has commenced the training of Technical Teachers and Instructors (TTIs), on digital literacy, PEDAGOGY and trade specifics, being a component of the World-bank assisted Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills, (IDEAS) project.
The project is worth 200 million US dollars.
The training which is holding in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, has in attendance, teachers drawn from 38 colleges, 20 Federal Science and Technical Colleges, (FSTCs) and 18 State Technical Colleges (STCs) from six states; Abia, Benue, Edo, Ekiti, Kano and Gombe, representing the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Declaring the training open, Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, commended the World Bank, National Coordinating Unit, state project implementation unit and the state steering committee on the overall implementation of the project.
The Governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Professor Joseph Alakali, said high rate of unemployment resulting to negative impact of youth restiveness and extensive destruction of the nation’s economy was one of the major challenge currently confronting the education sector and the entire nation.
He said the need to transform skills development and training to strengthen the labour market is sacrosanct and cannot be overemphasized.
According to him the training of technical teachers and instructors to address the significant dearth of technical teachers, both in quality and quality in the colleges to teach technical and vocation skills is a fundamental step in the right direction.
Alia pledged his administration’s commitment to providing and sustaining conducive working space for the project to thrive saying he is willing to partner with qualified and recommended organizations to develop a roadmap as a panacea to developing the state education sector and achieving the set objectives of the IDEAS project.
He charged the participants to open themselves to the training advising that it is expected that after their training, they would acquire the needed skills that will require them to deploy prerequisite advanced technologies and techniques for increased impartation of knowledge and skills on to the students.
Introducing the project earlier, the National Coordinator IDEAS project, Mrs Blessing Ugwu, explained that the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills, (IDEAS) project, World Bank-assisted Project, an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Education, aims at enhancing the capacity of Nigerian skill development system to produce relevant skills for both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
“The project seeks to strengthen the skills of young learners, get them labour market-ready and consequently, drive up the employment rate across the country while revolutionizing the nation’s approach to innovation and skills development by creating an ecosystem that nurtures creativity, entrepreneurship, and technical proficiency.
According to her, the third component of the project which is “Increasing the Availability of Competent and Motivated Technical Teachers and Instructors in the Nigeria Skills Space,” which informed the training, aims at tackling the challenges of non-availability of appropriately skilled and competent technical teachers and instructors in the skill development sector.
“There is no systematic professional development (PD) programme to keep technical teachers in the system abreast of the latest developments in technology and training methodology. The project aims at supporting the government of Nigeria to systematically and comprehensively address constraints to the availability of high quality and motivated teaching and staff management in skills development institutions.
She explained that the project is focusing on skills acquisition because it is thought that “if youths are skilled, we will reduce unemployment and the number of youths on the streets. Because many are idle, the have to find something to do giving rise to robbery, kidnapping among others.
“We want to have skilled students who can live on their own and earn a living without knowing who knows who to get a job. This project is also for the youths elders ladies, vulnerable to empower them to be self reliant.
“Don’t give me fish, teach me how to fish. That is what we are emphasizing and that is why we are equipping our people so they don’t need to come back to the government to look for what to do. With this project focusing on skills, you can feed your family without help,” she said.
Benue State Project Coordinator, (IDEAS), Engr. Emmanuel Kwende, the Chairman of Human Resource Strategy for Skills Development, (HRSSD) Committee, Engr Anthony Orkwar, and the state Commissioner for Education, Rev Frederick Ikyaan, all acknowledged that the world is technologically driven and it was to equip the teachers and instructors with the skills to teach their students to meet the needs of industries.
Orkwar who called for cooperate with the federal government to enable the project achieve the desired goals urged the teachers to open up themselves to the training to acquire the proficient digital skills to enable them engage their students effectively.
