The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has emphasised the importance of digital technology in the effective and efficient delivery of educational lessons, particularly at the basic level.

UNICEF Education Specialist, Bauchi Field Office, Abdulrahman Ado, who disclosed this at a programme to celebrate the International Day of Education, called on philanthropists and corporate organisations to support child education by leveraging the availability of digital learning programmes under the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) initiative to improve learning outcomes.

Ado also called for proper monitoring of the programme to ensure its success, stressing the need for periodic visits to schools to assess the usage of tablets and other digital learning gadgets provided.

The UNICEF boss also urged state governments to take ownership of the learning gadgets, reminding benefiting communities that the gadgets belong to them, not UNICEF.

Besides, he emphasised the need to develop local content to complement the existing material.

He also urged states to establish Nigeria Learning Passport studio and procure additional tablets and other necessary gadgets for digital learning.

While commending the Bauchi State government’s recent move to recruit additional teachers, Ado urged authorities to use the Teacher Management Information System (TMIS) in the recruitment process.

He also highlighted the importance of digitalising the Education Management Information System (EMIS), stressing the need to identify teachers who will supply the platform with relevant data.

He stressed the need to strengthen school infrastructure, including provision of electricity and adequate security, to ensure safety of the gadgets and their effective utilisation.

On her part, the Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics at the Ministry of Education, Ai’shatu Aminu, said almost all the schools across the 20 local government councils in Bauchi State have been enrolled in the programme, except for newly admitted students.

The NLP is an online platform with mobile and offline capabilities, and allows continuous access to quality  education. It is highly flexible and adaptable, allowing states to quickly adopt the platform as their learning management system or use it to complement existing digital learning efforts.

It serves national curriculum content as well as global supplementary resources, including Open Educational Resources (OERs), to support learners and improve learning outcomes.

Additionally, the platform provides teachers and parents with tools and resources to support learning.