The Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has disclosed that the government of South Korea through its development agency, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is proving support in the establishment of six model Smart Schools in Nigeria.
Bobboyi states this known in Abuja, when he received the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Kim Pan-Kyu, at the UBEC Digital Resource Centre.
Kim Pan-Kyu, was at the UBEC Digital Resource Centre to inspect the facilities put in place for the training of teachers on smart education.
The envoy also used the occasion to interact briefly with the experts from Korea who are in Nigeria to train Nigerian teachers and head teachers on running of smart schools as well as intensive training on content development.
The UBEC boss thanked Korea for the tremendous support right from beginning to the stage where 14 out of the 37 Smart Schools being established in Nigeria have taken off.
He said: "We are exceptionally happy to have His Excellency, the Ambassador of Korea to Nigeria, visiting the UBEC Digital Resource Centre not only to see the infrastructure that we have for training of teachers but also witnessing the Korean experts who have recently arrived t²he country to help in the training of teachers from various parts of Nigeria."
"We went to Korea, to see what is going and a lot of teachers, particularly the head teachers also went there to receive training and now a lot of experts are here with us to impart additional knowledge on these teachers on how to run a modern smart school, the kind that we have established here in Nigeria," he said.
He added that this was something that would help Nigeria move forward in a very serious manner in the area of smart education.
Bobboyi noted that there were some challenges including the issue of timely completion of the projects, saying there were still some few projects struggling to be completed "but we hope that majority of the schools would take off by September this year."
The UBEC boss further announced that the studio equipment which Korea had promised Nigeria have arrived.
According to him, KOICA is supporting in the establishment of six out of the 37 smart schools being established by the Federal Government across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
"So, we are pushing very hard to deploy similar equipment in the rest of the schools to be sure that we are making progress without compromising the quality and standards.
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"They are training all the head teachers from the various schools involving teachers from non-KOICA schools. It is a very engaging exercise," he said.
On challenges, Bobboyi said the issue of power, which is a common challenge in Nigeria is being worked out because the Smart Schools could not function without power. He added that the issue of internet connectivity is also a challenge but all have been factored into in the planning for the establishment of the schools.
"We are exploring all possible ways to minimize the impact of these challenges and to finally overcome those challenges for the success of smart school programme and the success of education in Nigeria," he stated.
The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Kim Pan-Kyu, earlier expressed satisfaction with the progress being made by UBEC in implementation of smart education in Nigeria and promised continued support of his country to Nigeria.
