The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has procured 30 mobile laboratories and Virtual Reality equipment dedicated to the Accelerated Senior Secondary Education Programme (ASSEP), which aims to enhance scientific or technological research and experiments across secondary schools in the 21 LGAs of Adamawa State.
The chairperson of the Projects Implementation Team ASSEP, Hajiya Sa’adatu Shehu, made the disclosure while declaring open training of teachers held at General Murtala Mohammed College Yola on Monday.
Shehu said the mobile laboratories would be stationed at three ASSEP-designated centres in each of the three senatorial zones, under the custody of the Ministry of Education, so that principals could access science experiments for their students in the various schools.
She said the ASSEP intervention project is an initiative of the Office of the Vice President Kashim Shetima being sponsored by the commission to address the quality gap in education, teachers’ quality upgrades and skill development to increase school enrollment in the state.
“The ASSEP initiative aims to improve student learning, foster healthy competition, and promote excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Agriculture (STEMA)subjects, these are the catalysts of Industrialisation.”
According to her, Adamawa and Taraba states are lagging behind in the ASSEP programme for teachers, and urged them to participate in the 1 million teacher programme so that they could qualify internationally.
She further said that the NEDC has rolled out scholarships for 600 students in the first batch in the state and procured virtual reality equipment to develop learning in the state.
The VR equipment would aid a step-by-step understanding of practicals and reality in various science subjects.
Earlier, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education and Capital Development, Hajiya Aisha Umar, appreciated the NEDC’s efforts to reposition education, which was devastated by the insurgency in the region.
Umar urged concerted efforts to develop the education sector for the betterment of the younger ones as future leaders.
