NEDC trains 100 science, technology teachers in Taraba

NEDC trains 100 science, technology teachers in Taraba

The Office of the Vice President, through the North East Development Commission (NEDC), has commenced a two day training of 100  teachers of science, technology, agriculture and engineering in Taraba.

The Voice Media Trust (VMT NEWS) reports that the training, which commenced on Thursday in Jalingo is under Accelerated Senior Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP), an initiative by the Office of  Vice President Kashim Shettima.

VMT NEWS also reports that the initiative, which is anchored by the North East Development Commission (NEDC), is aimed at improving the quality of education in six states in the North-East with a particular focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and agriculture.

The initiative further seeks to train one million teachers nationwide with basic emphasis on teacher training, classroom modernisation, students competition, and virtual reality content development to enhance educational outcomes.

Dr Augusta Godwin, Commissioner for Education  expressed her support for the initiative, noting that it aligned with the state government’s  free education policy.

Godwin noted that ASSEP, which was intended to enhance  teaching and learning  was one of the components in the blue print of the free education policy of the Gov. Agbu Kefas administration.

She also gave assurances that all teachers would be  trained   in fields other than science, technology, agriculture and engineering, especially in the area of Artificial intelligence (AI).

She commended the federal government for the initiative, adding that the trained teachers would replicate their experiences to other colleagues after the training.

Also speaking, Mr Idris Goje, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education said that the  100 teachers were carefully selected out of the 500 ASSAP teachers in the state for the training.

Goje further said that there were 100 designated  schools under Sience Technology Engineering Mathematics and Agriculture (ASTEMA) with a total of over 5,000 students in the state.

He said that the programme would go along way in enhancing science and technology innovation for teachers.

Mr Musa Bulama, Team lead of trainers said that the in-person teacher training programme was a follow up to the online version, where several hundreds across the North East states were exposed to modern technics.

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Bulama expressed determination to equip the teachers with skills in meeting the 21 century teacher’s requirements.

“The initiative aims to improve student learning, foster healthy competition, and promote excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

“The ASSEP intervention project is an initiative  by Office of the Vice President and the North East Development Commission focusing on STEMA towards driving future development and human empowerment in Nigeria’s North East region.

“We have trained teachers in the other five states in the region and we will be rounding it up here in Taraba,” he said.

Some of the participants, who spoke to NAN expressed delight with the training, saying it would boost their capacity to deliver on their duties.

Mrs Agnes Musa, one of the participants said that the training would enhance her  capacity in teaching sciences and technology subjects.

Mr Samuel Audu, a teacher from Government Day Secondary School Sabongida also said that the training would equip him with vital skills and motivate him to be innovative.