Why Anambra State insists on laptop per teacher - Omenugha

ITRealms:

The Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kate Omenugha has explained the insistence of the government of Gov. Willie Obiano that laptop acquisition scheme for primary school teachers must go on without distraction, ITRealms reports.

She disclosed that the bottom line for the scheme is to enable every teacher in Anambra State to own a laptop through soft loan before December 31, this year, and every student to own a palmtop by end of 2016.

Prof. Omenugha reiterated the commitment of the state government to ensure that both teachers and pupils are globally competitive for the 21^st century, stressing that the policy was introduced nationwide since 2012 by the National Council on Education.

The commissioner who made this known in Awka, the state capital, expressed shock over the controversy generated by the policy implementation under the current dispensation in the state.

According to her, the policy will give Anambra children the golden chance to competitive with their contemporaries from across the world.

With the scheme, Prof. Omenugha underscored the fact that it gives primary school teachers a chance to acquire first rate laptops complete with a synchronized tutorial package was actually a voluntary scheme and as such not mandatory on the teachers to subscribe to.

At the 58^th meeting of National Council on Education in Abuja over three years ago it was decided among many other things that all state ministries of education should comply with the instruction to “supply adequate number of computer laptops on soft loan basis to all teachers and continually organize training workshops and seminars for teachers on effective use of computer,” pointing out that her Ministry felt compelled to carve out a better path for the future of Anambra children by embracing the policy to ensure that teachers have enough computer literacy to impart the same knowledge on the children.

Prof. Omeugha explained that the policy thrust of the National Council on Education was in tandem with governor Obiano’s Blueprint for Education which prescribes a laptop for every teacher by 2015 and a palmtop for every student by 2016. 

Also she pointed out that the 9-year Basic Education Curriculum Structure of the National Council on Education encourages Primary 1 – 3 pupils to be taught basic technology and Information Technology.

Thus, she said, it has become necessary that every teacher must be computer literate.

“We have promised our children to have a globally competitive education. I always like to give myself as a good example. I was born in the village; I grew up in the village and spent 27 years of my life in the village. But from there I was able to get a scholarship to study for my PhD in the United Kingdom at the University of Gloucestershire through the Internet. I didn’t pay a kobo. Therefore, what we promise Anambra children is education that is globally competitive and one of the ways you can be globally competitive is through a good knowledge of ICT,” Prof. Omenugha explained.

She noted that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) would soon become a computer based test and NECO had taken the same path, indicating that from 2016, every exam that is ‘Objective’ would be computer based. 

“So, how would you produce children who can compete nationally and internationally with teachers who are still analogue?” she wondered.

 

Chuks Egbuna +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)
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