AI Skills Training Targets Nigeria’s 774 LGAs

Teachers and education stakeholders across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) are set to benefit from an Artificial Intelligence (AI) training initiative being advanced by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and GMind Academy.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of GMind AI and Founder of GMind Academy, Dr Success Ojo, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to TRCN in Abuja.

Ojo said GMind Academy was prepared to train 774 AI Adoption Specialists, with one specialist designated for each Local Government Area, to support teachers, schools and education stakeholders in understanding and adopting AI.

According to him, the specialists would serve as local AI adoption champions, helping teachers and schools apply AI to teaching, learning, assessment, productivity and other educational activities.

He said the 774 specialists would be trained free of charge. At the same time, each participant would also receive two months of free access to the GMind AI platform to enable them to learn, practise and demonstrate practical applications of the technology.

Ojo also proposed that teachers who complete the academy’s Certified AI-ready Teacher Programme (CART) should be eligible to earn recognised professional development credits towards their continuing professional development requirements with TRCN, subject to the Council’s approval and applicable requirements.

He said incorporating AI competency into teachers’ continuing professional development would help make AI training an ongoing component of the teaching profession rather than a one-off intervention.

Ojo commended TRCN for its role in teacher registration, professional standards, licensing, accreditation and continuing professional development, saying the Council’s activities were important to strengthening the teaching profession and Nigeria’s education system.

He also acknowledged federal government initiatives aimed at improving teacher professionalisation, education quality and digital competencies.

He said the proposed initiative would help take AI education beyond the national level to communities across the country by providing each LGA with a trained specialist to support local teachers and schools in adopting AI responsibly.