By Ngozi Nwankwo
Federal Government on Thursday inaugurated the Universal Basic Education Commission,UBEC, Digital Resource Centre,DRC, to bolster the implementation of smart education in Nigeria.
Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, who officially commissioned the project located at Kado, area of Abuja, said the Centre was designed to enhance the provision of smart teaching and learning environment for teachers and students.
He said already over 10,000 teachers and educators have received various forms of training at the Digital Resource Centre in preparation for full take off of the 37 Smart Schools built by the Federal Government through UBEC across the 36 states of the Federation and FCT.
Mamman asserted that the centre is second to none in the world as according to him, there could not have been a better time to develop digital technology in education than now especially as the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is looking at building vocational institutions across the country.
He said everything would be done to ensure the timely upgrading of the centre to ensure quality delivery for what it is worth.
Senator representing Kogi-central in the Senate, Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan noted that if education is universal, it means whatever a child learns in Nigeria should be the same as any child learns in every other country and that is why, according to her, the concept of a digital resource centre is necessary for the country.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content, she pledged the commitment of the committee to collaborate with the centre towards realising its noble objectives.
Her views were corroborated by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Lawal Adamu who commended UBEC for the digital resource centre, as according to him, a smart education centre is key to global development.
Earlier, the executive secretary of the Commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said the establishment of the centre marks a milestone for Nigeria’s quest for digital education.
“UBEC has the mandate to coordinate quality education in Nigeria through innovation like the establishment of the Digital Resource Centre that employs the power of technology for education. This is to ensure that students and teachers have access to digital tools in a globalised world.”
The whole idea, he noted, is to provide high digital quality content for users in order to bridge the gap between traditional and modern learning.
“We envisage a future where every Nigerian child has access to quality education ,” he said.