S. Korean Agency Committed To Promoting Smart Education In Nigeria – Official 

By Sarafina Christopher 

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), on Monday, reiterated its commitment to promoting Smart Education in Nigeria.

The Country Director of KOICA, Mr Son Sungil, made the pledge in Abuja, at a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on advancing smart education, held in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

The workshop had the theme `Institutionalisation of Smart Education in Nigeria’.

A statement by the agency observed that it is very important to shape the future of learning and empower the minds of the next generation through innovative and sustainable smart education in Nigeria.

“We are not only individuals passionate about basic education but a collective force committed to shaping the future of learning and empowering the minds of the next generation through innovative and sustainable smart education in Nigeria.

“Our objective during this workshop was to consolidate efforts towards creating an inclusive and sustainable smart quality education in Nigeria public schools which I believe is inclusive through the close collaboration with UBEC.

“Also the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), and all other relevant stakeholders,” he said.

The statement quoted Prof. Bala Zakari, the Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC as saying, “From the beginning of the Smart Schools Programme, we have been very lucky to have the support of the South Korean government.

“It has pledged to assist us in the establishment and operations of our schools.

“South Korea has its own smart schools programme, started very many years ago, which has begun yielding very successful results.

“KOICA, through UBION, its project managers, has gone far in the implementation of smart education and the learners, as well as teachers of these schools are already beginning to benefit tremendously from the project.

“It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the six KOICA-assisted smart schools, another seven smart schools have opened their doors and the remaining 24 are expected to commence operations by September 2024,” Zakari added.

UBEC has embarked on a smart education programme by establishing smart schools across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

KOICA is supporting six of the schools on a grant of 10.4 million dollars and building the capacity of teachers, educators, and policy-makers at both the international and local levels.

Smart education refers to the effective and coherent use of information and communication technologies to reach a learning outcome using a suitable teaching approach.

The essence of smarter education is to create intelligent environments by using smart technologies so that smart teaching approaches can be facilitated to provide personalised learning services and empower learners to develop talents of wisdom that have better value orientation, higher thinking quality, and stronger conduct ability. (NAN)

Edited by Emmanuel Yashim