Skool Media, an education technology infrastructure company, has said that its recently unveiled technology experience centre in some schools in Lagos will help to drive adoption and improve capacity of youths for innovation and productivity. The firm claims to have invested over N500 million to deploy digital facilities in the country’s education sector in the last five years, saying that the investment has had impacts on 23 project centres, located mostly in the Federal Government’s Unity Schools in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Speaking at the official opening of School Media Teachers and Students Experience Centres located in Federal Science and Technical College, Queen’s College, and Federal Government College, Ijanikin, in Lagos, recently, the Chief Executive Officer/Project Director of Skool Media Nig Ltd., Moses Imayi, noted that the Teachers and Students Experience Centres that are being inaugurated were as a result of Skool Media’s commitment to quality education.

According to Imayi, the easiest way to get the desired quality education in Nigeria is to create an enabling environment for both the teachers and the students. This, he noted formed Skool Media’s strategic plan to get education working again.

“School Media will continue to be a role model for the adoption of technology in education in Africa, and the opportunity for being a reference point for all education and technology stakeholders in Nigeria,” Imayi said.

“The centres are collaborative workspace for computer-based learning, and indeed, an opportunity for students to engage with technology and become globally competitive.

“They are expected to be an inspirational, yet enriching environment that would support both teachers and students to be resourceful. The key aim is to make learning fun and seamless whilst engaging with technology and innovation and yet being highly productive,” he added.

The core skills to be harnessed at the experience centres, according to Skool Media include, but not limited to coding; Google Digital Skills; information retrieval – information literacy using key search engines; soft skills-EQ, team building, creative thinking and complex problem solving, personal branding; creative writing and public speaking workshops; Gamification, AR and VR mode or learning.

Others are hackathons, summer bootcamps, competitions amongst students; hub unique programmes: Ideation Day, Digital Innovation workshops, among others.

Responding to the gesture by Skool Media, Architect Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, gave the assurance that equipping the schools with ICT will surely redefine teaching and learning processes and ultimately, give the students an edge to compete with their counterparts all over the world.

Echono, who serves as the Special Guest at the occasion at the commissioning, added that the unveiling of the School Media Teachers and Students Experience Centres is a step in the right direction, urging other stakeholders to join in collaborating in the laudable venture.

The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director of ICT at the Ministry, Alhaji Abubakar Isah, also urged the college managements to explore the facilities so that societal challenges can be resolved via technology.

Meanwhile, the Director/Principal, Federal Science and Technology College, FSTC, Yaba, Lagos, Dr. (Mrs) Ogochukwu Ufoegbune, disclosed that collaborative effort among various stakeholders in the college led to the equipping of the school with ICT facilities.

Also, the Director/Principal, Queen’s College, Yaba, Dr. Mrs. T.F.O. Yakubu-Oyinloye, while commending School Media, emphasised that access to quality ICT-enabled education is imperative for the future of the students.

On her part, the Principal of the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Dr. (Mrs). OAU Essie, appreciated Skool Media team, urging them for continuous support for the advancement of education in Nigeria.