UBEC, EDTECH Partner To Boost Basic Education With Technology

Executive secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has expressed the commission’s commitment to providing smart education by promoting innovation and technology enhancement for the delivery of quality basic education in the country.

He said the commission, through its Digital Resource Centre is providing technical support for smooth operations of the 11 Smart Schools which had commenced academic activities during the ongoing September 2023/2024 academic session nationwide.

The Smart Schools are located in Bauchi, Benue, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Niger, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kwara, Osun and Oyo states.

The spokesperson of UBEC, Mr David Apeh, in a statement during the weekend said Bobboyi spoke at a two-day workshop organised by the Digital Resource Centre of the Commission.

The workshop is to build and establish partnerships with Edtech startups to provide essential tools for enhancing the quality and relevance of education in the 21st century.

He stressed the need to introduce innovative approaches to delivery of basic education and to familiarize education stakeholders, particularly classroom teachers in Smart Schools, with the Edtech ecosystem.

The workshop was attended by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), 21 Edtech Startups and eleven (11) teachers from the operational Smart Schools across the country.

“The interactive activity succeeded in identifying areas where UBEC can collaborate with the Startups to provide fresh perspectives and map out strategies for the utilization of technology in delivering quality basic education, especially for the Smart Schools and E-learning programmes of the UBE Commission,” the statement said.

According to the statement the Digital Resource Centre of UBEC has embarked on a technical support exercise designed to enhance the capacity of Smart School teachers through constructive feedback and continuous capacity development.

“The technical support activity focused on observing and identifying areas of challenge in smart education delivery, while providing teachers with one-on-one constructive feedback based on classroom observation.
“This approach provided direct coaching for skill refinement and professional growth while creating an avenue for knowledge and experience sharing among teachers,” Apeh stated.