Lagos in Partnership with Microsoft to Train 18,000 Teachers

Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, has announced plan to partner Microsoft to train 18, 000 teachers across the state.

While disclosing this on Tuesday May 26, 2020, Mrs Adefisayo stated that the training aimed at enhancing teachers’ computer literacy towards achieving best teaching and learning practices.

“This COVID-19 lockdown period avails us the opportunity to improve our teachers. For instance, we partnered with Microsoft and they are teaching 18,000 of our teachers on digital literacy.

“So, they are going to come out of this training, being able to work comfortably with Word and Excel which is going to be done through the Zoom App because of the social distancing order,” Adefisayo said.

“So, first of all, they are learning to be computer literate straightaway,” she added.

She also posited that computer literacy is of importance at this point when technology is crucial to the advancement of teaching and learning processes.

Adefisayo affirmed that the introduction of Eko Excel Programme had improved the teaching and learning experiences in classroom between the teachers and pupils.

She added that the government and private sectors are heavily investing in online teaching and learning at this trying times.

“We have continued to call for devices and people have continued to give us, we are going to start giving them out within a week. Parents will be excited,” she said.

The commissioner said the online digital classes would not be stopped after the pandemic.

She added that the ministry is at the final stage of recruitment processes for 2,000 teachers in order to boost the standard of public primary school education in the state.

She said the Sanwo-Olu’s administration had granted the ministry permission to replace retired teachers.

“The most important aspect of learning is the quality of teachers and we did not have enough teachers to actualise the set plan for learning in our public schools,” she said.

Speaking on school resumption, the commissioner noted that the ministry could not give the exact resumption date. She said that the government was watching the trend of the pandemic.

“We cannot say specifically that we are going to open on so and so date. We are also working with the federal government because it is not a decision that any state can take unilaterally.

“We are looking at the pandemic. The main thing for us is safety first, safety second, safety third. If we are certain that our children are fairly safe, we will open school,” she said.

Adefisayo, however, disclosed that the ministry is already working on a paper on modalities for the reopening of schools

“The ministry is working with the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Development Agencies and others to develop a very robust protocol paper for school to reopen.

“Whenever we say the school will start, there will be notice, there will be time for preparations. We are going to have time within which schools will be able to put in place those protocols for children’s safety.

“Office of the Education Quality Assurance is working hard with us to ensure compliance,” she concluded.