Teachers from Enugu, Katsina, Niger and the FCT have converged on Abuja for a training programme, aimed at equipping educators with 21st-century skills in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, drones and digital technologies.
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The three-day training was organised by Glisten International Academy, in collaboration with the Mirasha Foundation, in Abuja on Thursday.
Speaking at the event, Executive Director, Glisten International Academy, Abba Saidu, said that the initiative was designed to prepare teachers with the skills required to train students for the future workplace.
“This is a massive teacher’s training programme that aims to educate our teachers, or people in the education sector to have skills, educational technology skills, that will build our students for the future workspace.
“The aim is to touch on areas that we felt are really needed in our country, Africa and the world in general.
“So, in areas you can deploy AI, having to do an AI policy, use the internet, use robotics education, drones, other systems as well, farming, innovation, to be creative in our schools and various other things,” he said.
Saidu explained that the training was to up skill teachers, particularly from public schools, so they could impact students with knowledge relevant to global trends.
He added that while similar trainings had been conducted for more than 200 schools in Abuja and across Nigeria, the workshop marked the first major expansion with participation from different states and FCT.
Also speaking, Acting Director-General, Miraisha Foundation, Bilyaminu Yunusa, stressed that the training seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical learning and practical application in Nigeria’s education system.
Yunusa recalled that in 2024, the foundation trained 100 teachers from the FCT Secondary Education Board on VEX Robotics, adding that Nigerian students have successfully competed in international robotics competitions in Dallas, USA, winning laurels for the country.
“This is not the first time of the training. We’ve been doing it yearly. I want to tell you that even as of last year, around October, we were able to train about 100 teachers from the FCT Secondary Education Board on REX Robotics and other tech related.
“That is where the world is today. You go to China today, you see students doing imagining things. You wonder what kind of children are these?
“But they are the same children with the same capacity of brain and other things that our children here can do. We have students that developed apps here in this very school,” he said.
On the perceived fear that AI may replace human jobs, Balig Sadiq, Lead Coach at Glisten International Academy, explained that the technology should be seen as a support tool rather than a threat.
“AI will not replace teachers, but it may replace those who refuse to adapt. It is here to make our work easier, not to eliminate us,” he said.
Participants at the training expressed enthusiasm about the knowledge gained.
A representative from Katsina State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mas’ud Sulaiman, said that the exposure to AI tools for lesson preparation and question setting would save teachers significant time and improve efficiency.
“I never imagined AI could generate multiple-choice or true/false questions within seconds, something that would normally take days,” Suleiman noted.
He added that his team would step down the training to colleagues in Katsina.
The Chief Executive of Glisten International Academy, Hajiya Samira Jibir, urged delegates to fully engage in the sessions and ensure that the knowledge gained is cascaded to their respective states and institutions.
She also called for the formation of state-level action committees to sustain the programme’s long-term impact.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants were trained on Robotics Education, Integrating AI in Teaching and Learning, Drone Technology Education, Computational Thinking, among others. (NAN)
