Tasi’u Hassan
A total of Five Hundred corps members serving in various schools across 21 local government areas of Adamawa State have received training on promoting digital learning through the Nigerian Learning Passport.
The two-day training workshop, held at General Murtala Mohammed College in Yola, was organized by UNICEF with support from Foundation Botnar.
According to UNICEF Education Specialist, Bauchi Field Office, Mr. Abdulrahman Ado, UNICEF is committed to strengthening digital learning among school children, hence it collaborates with other organizations to train corps members on registering students on the Nigeria Learning Passport and accessing courses.
He says “Looking at the limited number of teachers in some schools, we are leveraging the one-year service experience of the corps members serving in schools, provide where each corps member will be introduced into Nigerian Learning Passport so that when they get back to the schools they serve, they will register more learners into platform and support them in taking and completing courses.
We had a bitter experience during the COVID-19 pandemic where all activities were shut down including the education. So, that is why we came up with the idea of having an alternative learning program and this alternative learning program the LNP is one of them”.
Mr Ado explained that the Nigeria Learning Passport platform has over fifteen thousand learning contents, saying registered students can access materials for reading at home or in school.
“We have over 15,000 learning points and the idea is for us to reach each child so that he can be enrolled into the platform and after enrollment he would be registered into some certain courses and also complete the courses,” he added.
The Education Specialist emphasized that introducing children to digital learning at an early age will help them navigate digital challenges and thrive in a digital economy.
He noted that the NLP is not only for children in schools, as there are components for out-of-school children, and teachers can access resources for professional development.
“We are targeting all children in Adamawa State, and one important thing of note is that the LNP is not only for the children who are in school. We have also components for children who are out of school. At the same time, we have also a component, which is for non-formal education. Non-formal education we are referring to is like an integrated Qur’anic school. So, the Nigerian Learning Passport can also be applicable to all of them and they can also use it.
“We are targeting all the schools not only at the basic level but even at the upper basic level, that is the senior secondary schools. One interesting thing to note here is that the NLP is not only the learners, even the teachers and education administrators can make use of it because there are a lot of simulations and other important resources,” Mr Ado explained.
He added that UNICEF has distributed tablets, projectors, routers and other items to facilitate digital learning in schools, and teachers are receiving training on the initiative.
“Apart from corps members, we also have a platform where we are training the teachers, who are serving in these schools – whether it is in the rural or urban areas”, the specialist said.
Launched in March 2022 by the Federal Ministry of Education and UNICEF, and powered by Microsoft, the Nigeria Learning Passport is now active in 18 states, with over Five Hundred Thousand registered users.
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