The Bayelsa State Government, under the leadership of Governor Douye Diri, has deepened digital learning in Nigeria as its technology-based basic education reform programme, BayelsaPRIME commences training for an additional 2,300 teachers in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The teachers who are drawn from Southern Ijaw, Nembe, Ekeremor and Brass local government areas bring to 4,500 the number of those who have been trained to deliver lessons using digital devices and platforms in the past eight months.
The government launched BayelsaPRIME in the first quarter of 2023 to deepen the use of technology in teaching, learning, quality assurance processes and other aspects of basic education service delivery in state-owned primary schools.
“This is a unique professional development opportunity for teachers that have been invited here for this historical training. At the end of the training, these teachers will have the capacity to deliver classes using a modern approach. Also, more children will be lifted from learning poverty across our state,” the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Gentle Emelah said.
Teachers at the training are being taught new methods of teaching and learning, how to use technology to deliver impactful lessons, modern classroom management techniques using specific web-based applications, child protection techniques and many other skills relevant to the 21st Century classroom.
Each teacher will be issued a teacher-tablet at the end of the training. The tablets will be used to deliver lesson notes and guides to teachers daily to facilitate their classes.
The tablets will also serve other purposes including facilitation communication between teachers and policy makers in the state capital, classroom management, as well as time and record keeping.
Each headteacher at the training will be issued a smartphone which will facilitate school-level management.
An estimated 51,000 children in four new local government areas are expected to benefit from the reform programme beginning in September. Upon launch in February, 42,000 children began to benefit from the reform in Yenagoa, Sagbama, Opokuma/Kolokuma and Ogbia local government area.
The ongoing training brings in four new local government into the reform programme.
