…Fed Govt pledges to prioritise application of technology in education
The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu has said that the federal government would continue to prioritise the application of technology in education.
Sununu emphasised the importance of technology in providing students with access to online resources as well as encouraging research.
He said President Bola Tinubu has approved the education project which encapsulated the generation of overall data of all schools in Nigeria right from kindergarten to tertiary institutions.
Sununu said this in Abuja on Wednesday, at the 2024 Information Technology Professionals’ Assembly organised by the Computer Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) with the theme: “Artificial Intelligence: An Enabler for Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development.”
He said: “In the last few days, President Bola Tinubu has approved the education project which encapsulated the generation of overall data of all schools in Nigeria right from kindergarten to our tertiary institutions.
“This will enable us to have the actual data and number of students, their performances, the number of schools and their current status so that we can intervene where we can.”
The minister said the ministry was collaborating with other governmental agencies to ensure comprehensive data on out-of-school children.
He recalled that one of the campaign promises of the present administration was to move out-of-school children from the streets back to school.
The minister said: “It is worrisome that Nigeria has the first position in the number of out-of-school children globally.
“Over 20 million out-of-school children is unacceptable and that’s why we must find a solution to it.”
Sununu commended the efforts of the council at eliminating quackery in the profession, urging them to redouble their strategies to rid quackery of the system.
The minister urged the council to align with the vision of the Tinubu administration in their programmes and activities so that it would not be a mirage.
He said: “Your efforts at eliminating quackery in the profession through the registration of individuals and corporate organisations that are practising Information Technology have not been unnoticed.
“The Federal Ministry of Education is conscious of your efforts at enforcing the Act that established CPN by making it mandatory for all individuals and corporate organisations that are practising IT in Nigeria to be duly registered with CPN.
“The global practice is for professionals to regulate their profession properly to exterminate quacks and undesirable elements from making incursions into the profession.
“Therefore, all individuals and corporate organisations that are into Information Technology practice should register with CPN to allow for effective regulation of computer education and practice in Nigeria,” he said.
The president and chairman of CPN, Kole Jagun, said the IT Professionals’ Assembly had continued to set the tenor and directions for IT policies for successive governments.
He said this was part of the various initiatives of the Council to ensure that Nigeria was positioned to take maximum advantage of the knowledge-based economy globally.
Jagun stated that 400 new members would be inducted into the profession on Thursday (today).
He said: “There is no doubt that our profession is a critical sector to the development of any nation in this modern world.
“In fact, no meaningful development can take place if the Information Technology sector is prostate. That is why we have to be alive to our responsibility of moving with the dynamics and realities in the world. The profession has evolved and should take the centre stage of national development.”
[TheNation]