The Lagos State government on Wednesday introduced the Eko Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) education programme to stakeholders in the education sector at the Anchor Event Centre, Agidingbi, Lagos.
Parents, school administrators, unions, quality assurance officers and others learnt that the EKOEXCEL would utilise technology to support teachers to improve their classroom delivery and monitor learners’ performance.
Speaking on the programme modelled after the EdoBest initiative for public school teachers in Edo State, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said tablets would be given to teachers as working tools that contain learning materials. With the tablets, he said teachers could be monitored.
“The tablet is to assist us to monitor – because that tablet will be geo-referenced. It will determine the coordinates of where you are. So the moment you turn it on, as the head teacher or as somebody that is monitoring, you see the teacher is within so-so coordinates and what the teacher is teaching,” he said.
The Deputy Governor added that the tablet would enable teachers to teach learners at their own pace.
He also said the tablet was designed to be durable and could last two weeks once fully charged.
In his speech, the Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) Wahab Alawiye-King, said teachers would be trained to use EKOEXCEL in three phases beginning from December 2019.
“Teachers are at the heart of successful learning. If we want improved outcomes for pupils, the starting point must be the continuous improvement of teaching practices, leadership practises and organisational practises. In other words, our literacy rate will not grow without having teachers who are equipped to teach pupils born in the 21st Century.Through EKOEXCEL model, teachers would be able to deliver standardised learning to pupils in public primary schools in line with global standards,” he said.
Also speaking, the Education Commissioner, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, said the tablet would be uploaded with the curriculum and lesson notes.
“The tablet is a device that would support what they are teaching in the classroom. What we try to look for is appropriate technology. We loaded our curriculum on it; we loaded lesson notes; we loaded how the teacher would teach each topic. It is not that we will give teachers the tablets and leave them. There would be people who would be coming to monitor them. We are going to work with the community, parents’ forum and the school-based management committees so that they go on this journey with us,” she said.
The EKOEXCEL would be launched in 300 schools with 4,000 teachers trained. In all, 14,000 teachers are expected to be re-trained under the programme.
This article appeared originally on The Nation, Dec 5, 2019.
