The federal government says it has revoked the contract of the company handling the construction work for its smart school infrastructure in Kebbi State and re-awarded it to another contractor.
Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, while taking a tour of the FCT Smart School in Karshi, together with the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman.
Sununu added that apart from Kebbi, the construction work of the smart school in Bayelsa State is also undergoing due process, adding that the contract might be revoked and awarded to another contractor.
He noted that this was to ensure that no state was left behind in the smart school application of technology in education.
“The two schools that are lagging behind; that of Kebbi State has been revoked and awarded to another contractor, and Bayelsa is also undergoing due process to revoke the contract and be rewarded so that no state will be left behind in the smart school application of technology in education,” he said.
He also decried the failure of some states whose smart schools have been completed and handed over to supply the federal government with 75 teachers to be trained so as to run the schools.
He called on other states to emulate the FCT administration which is already providing roads and hostel accommodation to expand the scope of the smart school in its domain with a full complement of staff.
Sununu also called on traditional rulers and residents of Karshi to provide adequate security for the facilities as they are the primary beneficiaries of their services before other Nigerians.
The Smart School project was initiated and funded by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency, KOICA, to increase the capacity of teachers in the development and use of ICT content and to improve the access of teachers and pupils to quality teaching and learning materials.
Earlier, the Minister of Education, Mamman, said Nigeria’s education system was currently directed towards technology-enhanced learning to help nurture the thinking and creativity of the students.
“This is the type of institution we aspire to have in the country that integrates personal learning and takes technology right from the beginning and makes learning interactive for toddlers; learners taking from the foundation and from there to build up to university level.
“It will help to nurture their thinking and creativity. So this is the direction our education is going,” he said.
The minister, who reiterated the government’s plan to establish one smart school in each state of the federation, said currently, there are 26 of them while construction work on the remaining ones is ongoing.
“This is part of the legacy this government is delivering to Nigerians which is to make provision for a digitalised school system for pupils to be trained in the use of technology right from kindergarten to basic and junior secondary school,” he said.
He further stated that the smart schools will combine conventional and vocational aspects of education so that at completion the students will have skills that can help them in life.