The federal government has flagged off the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics project Centres (STEM) in Government Secondary School kano and Federal Government College Kano.
The flagoff ceremony was done by Representative of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali who also presented 159 Android Tablets to Students on training at Bayero University Kano.
The Permanent Secretary explained that STEM is one of the components of the National Social Investment Programme(NSIP), strategically aimed at providing a technical platform that would aid modern teaching and learning on STEM to students in some carefully selected schools at both Federal and State-owned Science/Technical Secondary Schools Nationwide.
He stated,”Technically, the project is aimed at providing e- learning facilities through the establishment of a State – of- the -Art Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) infrastructure and modern teaching content, to serve as a one-stop-shop environment for students in Public Secondary Schools to have access to digital and updated learning materials in sciences, while also developing their ICT skills including the use of the Internet for various purposes.
Alkali said further that, STEM has two components, the set-up of the centres in selected government-owned secondary schools and training the Teachers in the schools selected, while STEM centres are established to give students of the secondary schools to have practical experience in digital learning platforms, the training component focuses on building the capacity of Teachers to significantly enhance the learning of STEM which is the foundation of the digital economy.
The programme is designed to equip and transform STEM’s Teachers to deliver digital literacy through training, mentoring, and provision of devices to aid teaching.
The Representative of the Minister, Alkali adding that each STEM centres is equipped with modern digital equipment, and a total of 218 such schools all over the 36 States and FCT are equipped with these digital gadgets. Each of the centres is equipped with the following:
*1 Projector of 5000 lumen
*1 Magnetic White Board for learning
*1 WiFi Routers multi-SIM
- 18 Elegoo Robotics set
The Minister’s representative expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s determination and focus in the spirit of inclusion towards the development of the young people in the digital economy which the STEM project targets the youth. He appreciated the Government of Kano State, urging the students to make good use of the equipment that would aid modern teaching and learning on STEM in the digital world.
Kano state Governor Abdulahi Ganduje represented by the SSG, Alhaji Usman Alhaji commended the Federal Government for its foresight in providing the needed equipment and conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning of STEM nationwide, adding that Kano State is working hard to uplift the standard of Education, that free and compulsory education is yielding result in the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Sanusi Saidu-Kiru, said 11 schools are currently benefitting from the STEM project.
Other government officials present at the event were: SSG, Usman Waziri, Director Humanitarian Affairs Alhaji Grema Ali, State Focal Person STEM Aminu Zubair, N-POWER Team Lead,Nsikak Okon, Director SSG Rano Malam Umar Muktar among others.