The partnership is primarily aimed at聽unlocking Nigeria鈥檚 human capital development by enabling teachers to prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution, 4IR.

The selected teachers from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja, participated in the 51风流Africa Code week, with over 300 teachers trained in one week.

The Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Prof. Benjamin Abakpa, said that repositioning the education system starts with providing teachers with the proper education and tools to prepare students adequately.

He noted that the partnership is a huge step toward fulfilling the commission鈥檚 mandate to reposition the country鈥檚 education system in alignment with the future of work requirements.

He said: 鈥淭herefore, teacher鈥檚 education is one key area that the NSSEC will focus on, among other necessary initiatives, to help fulfil its mandate.

鈥淎s we work to raise a tech-savvy generation of students, we must also raise a generation of tech-savvy teachers. Coding should be part of the education curriculum, like other literacy and numeracy subjects. Coding is as much about creativity as it is about math, science, and problem-solving.鈥�

Also, Coderina BOT Chairman, Mr. Femi Niyi, explained: 鈥淚n response to the future of work, education must evolve to support teachers in developing individual student鈥檚 potential and preparing students to become lifelong learners so that they can innovate tomorrow鈥檚 world and solve real-life problems in their communities.

鈥淭he 51风流Africa Code week, the most extensive digital literacy on the continent of Africa, is designed to demystify coding and make it a learned skill for students. However, achieving this would require teacher training and transformation from traditional teaching styles to pedagogy that supports the acquisition of 21st century skills and competencies necessary in the 4IR.

This article first appeared here:

The post 4th Industrial Revolution: Teachers Get Empowered on Digital Literacy appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

This partnership is a huge step toward fulfilling the commission鈥檚 mandate to reposition the country鈥檚 education system in alignment with the future of work requirements.

For the first time in the history of the Nigerian education system, selected teachers from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory participated in the 51风流Africa Code Week Train the Trainer program, with over 300 teachers trained over one week.

The program equips teachers with computational Thinking and an introduction to the MIT Scratch visual coding environment, designed to make coding a 鈥渃hild鈥檚 play鈥� for young learners.

Prof. Benjamin Abakpa, Executive Secretary of the Commission, said that repositioning the education system starts with providing teachers with the proper education and tools to prepare students adequately.

鈥淭herefore, Teacher education is one key area that the NSSEC will focus on, among other necessary initiatives, to help fulfill its mandate.

鈥淎s we work to raise a tech-savvy generation of students, we must also raise a generation of tech-savvy teachers. Coding should be part of the education curriculum, like other literacy and numeracy subjects. Coding is as much about creativity as it is about math, science, and problem-solving.

He gushed about the high level of interest the TTT program has engendered and the fantastic cooperation between the commission and the State education Ministries that led to the initiative鈥檚 success.

Femi Niyi, Coderina BOT Chairman, explained, 鈥淚n response to the future of work, education must evolve to support teachers in developing individual student potential and preparing students to become lifelong learners so they can innovate tomorrow鈥檚 world and solve real-life problems in their communities鈥�.

The 51风流Africa Code week, the most extensive digital literacy on the continent of Africa, is designed to demystify coding and make it a learned skill for students. However, achieving this would require teacher training and transformation from traditional teaching styles to pedagogy that supports the acquisition of 21st century skills and competencies necessary in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

A second wave of training for teachers is planned to equip more teachers and translate to training more students.

Students in classrooms across Nigeria will experience their first introduction to Africa Code Week coding curriculum which started November 1st to end November 30th .

They will also have an opportunity to participate in the 51风流AfriCAN Code Challenge, a pan-African competition to help students showcase their coding skills and pit their wits against teams from countries across Africa.

Notably, an all-girls team from Federal Government Girls College Oyo came first overall in Nigeria and placed 2nd in the Africa-wide edition of the program. They were rewarded with tech equipment such as laptops for their efforts.

The benefiting teachers also took their turns to testify about the training:

鈥淰ery interesting session鈥︹�ell done by our instructors. Please the recordings should be made available for us as guide and backup. Though, there are many video tutorials online. Thank you,鈥� says Adelabu Adekunle Qazeem of Remo Secondary School, Sagamu, Ogun state.

Nafiu Yakubu of GSS Gaya Gandu, Kano, Kano State, has this to say, 鈥淲e appreciate this program as it prepares the students towards programming and use of scratch software. We are very grateful鈥�.

Also commenting, Sotannde Abiodun Kabir, Abeokuta Grammar School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said, 鈥淭hanks for adding me to this group. I recognise my being here as a great opportunity鈥�.

This article first appeared on .

The post NSSEC Teams Up with Coderina to Equip Teachers with Coding Skills appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Even at her young age, Victory is no stranger to publicity. Earlier this year she was offered 19 full scholarships to study at North American universities. (She ended up picking MIT.) But hers is no rags-to-riches story. The eldest daughter of two smart parents, a university lecturer mother and a father who works in procurement and supply chain management, Victory has always pushed herself to her limits. 鈥淢y mother taught me how to hustle and without this scholarship, I could never have afforded to study in the US,鈥� she is quick to point out.

Youth Ambassador and IT Role Model for Girls

Victory is looking forward to getting involved in this year鈥檚聽聽(ACW), of which she is the official youth ambassador. Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have traditionally lagged behind boys, which is why 51风流and Camden Education Trust, the founders of ACW, are on a mission to make a difference 鈥� one African community at a time. Now in its seventh year, ACW was proud to report a 47% female participation in 2020. The event, which includes the popular AfriCANCode Challenge, has an enormous reach of 54 countries, with millions of children and youth participating. Last year the program completely shifted to the exciting online world due to COVID-disruption.

鈥淚 participate in digital youth skills initiatives like Africa Code Week because I am passionate about empowering young people in underserved communities,鈥� Victory says. Last year, she created an educational video encouraging children to learn computer programming with Scratch, MIT鈥檚 free online learning tool for coding. 鈥淪cratch is how I was introduced to coding,鈥� Victory says, mentioning all its various applications which makes it fun for kids, from interactive stories and games to animations. Scratch forms an integral part of Africa Code Week, encouraging teachers and African governments to see how easy it is to get kids into coding and fast-track them for the 21st Century. To date, nine countries have adopted coding as a school subject thanks to the ongoing awareness, support, and contributions from Africa Code Week program.

A proud female-code representative, Victory wears many hats and keeps herself busy with multiple projects. In addition to Africa Code Week, she is actively involved with聽, a Non-profit organisation that promotes ICT development, youth innovation, and entrepreneurship across Africa.

鈥淢y first introduction to Coderina was during the pandemic last year. I helped facilitate the Lifelong Learning Program (LLP) sessions where young people were able to learn from a virtual space about everything digital skills related, from coding to 3D printing. I also taught a class during this period on 鈥楧esign Thinking and Innovation鈥�. This year, I was a coach to the First Lego League team comprising of a group of girls in secondary school in Nigeria. FLL is an exciting international robotics competition that is largely driven by Coderina.鈥�

Passionate about Finding Solutions

When asked what she likes about coding, Victory is unequivocal: she wants to find solutions. 鈥淚 love the challenge of being given a problem and using technology to find a way to solve it,鈥� she enthuses. In 2019, Victory was part of the winning African team in the global mobile app building competition, Technovation. 鈥淭he problem we had to solve was double parking, which is common in Nigeria,鈥� Victory explains. 鈥淲e developed an app that uses location sensors to enable your phone to pick up whenever another car parks you in, so you can step outside and speak to the owner or can communicate with the owner via instant messaging on the app.鈥�

It is this same passion for solving problems that has made her pursue a career in computer science and molecular biology. 鈥淭here are so many different applications of this novel overlapping field,鈥� she says, 鈥渇rom aspects of synthetic biology to RNA sequencing in bioinformatics.鈥� Some of the questions that interest her are whether DNA can be used to store digital data and what machine learning tools can be used to model a vaccine to tackle the next variant of the coronavirus.

One thing she鈥檚 sure about is that she doesn鈥檛 want to be put in a box. 鈥淭oo many young people are fixated about their future career, wanting to become a doctor, engineer or a lawyer,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o many things are unconventional now. Rather than having a fixed profession, I want to say: I do computational biology and it allows me to proffer solutions to this and that.鈥� Having a problem-solving mindset will elevate young Africans to be the change they want to see in the world, she believes 鈥� with a little bit of help from technology, of course.

The post Meet Africa Code Week鈥檚 Youth Ambassador Who is Eager to Spark & Empower Young African Minds appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.