https://punchng.com/kwara-gov-urges-nigeria-to-embrace-tech-driven-smart-education
This article discusses a new push in development in Nigeria to their education system. This new advancement has received much support from the government and the governor of the Kwara state Mr. AbdhulRahman AbdhulRazaq with the opening and unveiling of a new “Smart School” these new smart schools in Nigeria as secondary schools that focus on the implementation of digital literacy skills as well as the use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality in order to provide young Nigerian students with the skills they need to compete in the modern online job market. This is endeavor is part of a larger shift by the government to reposition education to the forefront of goals for children in the country.
In terms of what this means for the country and the region I think that in the long term this is extremely positive. One of the major roadblocks for young people in certain parts of the sub-saharan regions is lack of access to education or lack of resources that provides them with the skills they need to strive in the modern digital job market. This is a great way to push improvement of opportunities for there children and if the smart schools see sucess I think it would make a lot of sense to push them across the country and into the region.
In terms of what the different involved stakeholders should do I think that if these work well then the government of Nigeria should then push them outwards across the country to reach as many people as possible. On the other hand if the smart schools don’t work that well at first then I think that they should work to improve on them not give up on the idea. One suggestion for this would be to reach outwards to NGOs for support or make this into a IGO project for the African Union.
In terms of what course concepts and themes this connects to most directly is going to be technology as well as development. These are paired frequently because they really go hand in hand. Having these smart schools where students are provided more opportunities to learn about the most modern technologies will allow them to have more opportunities for innovation thus directly pushing development. In addition the current digital economy is very tech innovation focused so by providing students with these skills they can then bring back much more return through innovation.