FG, ICT expert, Google train Ekiti teachers on online safety

The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), which specialises in communication technology, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, has trained over 2,000 teachers in Ekiti State on Online Safety Education with support from Google.

Speaking at the training held at Ikere Ekiti, the PPDC Project Lead/ Communication Officer, Chidima Udeh, said the body was committed to promoting citizens’ participation in governance by institutionalising safer Internet practices.

Udeh said: “The online safety curriculum adoption into the National Nigerian Curricula for children and teenagers, was developed last year by the PPDC in collaboration with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) with support from Google. It was approved by the Federal Ministry of Education in November 2019.

“ In today’s fast-growing digital age, online safety education is paramount and Google has always been committed to helping to make the Internet safer and more useful for everyone.

“We are infusing the curriculum into the already existing subjects at the primary and secondary schools across the nation.

The Ministry of Education wants the programme to get to all the students in schools and we are training the teachers, building their online safety knowledge capacity so as to enable them deliver the courses effectively to their students.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Osuniyi Ademiju Deborah, a teacher at the Ajelagin Secondary school in Ikere Ekiti, said: “ We can now effectively build the capacity of our students on how they can stay safe online, so that we can have a safe society. We, therefore, appreciate PPDC and Google’s efforts in this respect.”