E-learning: UBEC to commence construction of additional 17 smart schools in states

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

In a bid to ensure that children in Nigeria compete effectively with their global counterparts, the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, has disclosed plans to construct additional 17 smart schools in states that are yet to benefit from its intervention.

This was disclosed by the UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Addressing journalists ahead of the 2021 International Children Day, the UBEC boss explained that the idea behind the construction of smart schools is to ensure that children in the country compete effectively in the 21st century.

According to him, e- learning has become an integral part of the school system in many parts of the world, and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.

Giving a detailed breakdown of the cost of constructing the schools, Bobboyi disclosed that each of the 17 smart schools located in the six geopolitical zones was constructed at approximately N600 million while N350 million each would be spent on constructing model smart schools in each state of the federation.

The UBEC boss disclosed that twenty of the smart schools were already completed and added that construction work on the remaining 17 will commence in the next one month.

“At the moment we have seven zonal smart schools, representing all the geopolitical zones in the country; we have also started the construction of the state models and so far, we have constructed two in each of the geopolitical zones and one extra in the North West because of the number of states there and the population.

“So far, we have 20. Our hope is that in the next one month we will ensure that the remaining states that do not have the model schools have them; the construction will start very soon,” he said.

He said while private schools in the country are already providing e-learning facilities for their pupils, the government is pushing hard to ensure that pupils in public schools have e-learning facilities irrespective of whether they can afford to pay for them.

Bobboyi said UBEC was collaborating with state governments to make the model schools a paradigm that states can replicate, adding however that the carrying capacity of the schools will not be high.

He added that the commission was in discussion with the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, internet service providers and other stakeholders to ensure internet connectivity in the schools.

“The power systems will be provided by the Chinese company Huawei, we are making an effort to ensure that we have stable power supply at the end of the day,” he said.

He said the commission also started vocational schools during the north east intervention, adding that when a school is built, vocational equipment are provided to help the children learn a trade.

On counterpart funding for states to access UBEC allocations, he said as at 31st of December 2020, about 120 billion was lying in the coffers of UBEC unutilised by state governments, adding that the major problem with the allocations is slow utilisation of funds.

Earlier, the Director of Physical Planning, UBEC, Engr. Abubakar Sa’ad, said the smart schools initiative, which was started by the leadership of Bobboyi is aimed at creating a conducive learning environment for the children.