03/11/2024
Maiduguri Capital, Baraâimul Imam, El-Kanemi Collage Emerge Winners Of UNICEF NLP Quiz Competition
By Nazeef Bakura
Maiduguri Capital school, Baraâimul Imam Secondary School and El-Kanemi College of Islamic Theology School have emerged winners of the Borno State Nigerian Learning Passport (NLP) Quiz Competition.
The competition which held on Saturday, 2nd November, 2024, marked the end of the six-month e-learning exercise of the NLP, was organized by UNICEF Nigeria in collaboration with Borno state Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Multi-Aid and Charity Initiate and Splash Innovation Hub.
The competition which consist words spelling and definition was participated by over 12 schools within Maiduguri metropolis, which Maiduguri Capital school emerged the winner of the senior secondary schools category, Baraâimul Imam Secondary School, clinched the junior secondary schools category title, while El-Kanemi College of Islamic Theology School take the lead on the primary school category.
The quiz competition has unveiled secret talents of the pupils and students while its triggered interest from dozens of observing pupils and students in the audience.
Speaking during a welcome address, the UNICEF Education Manager, Maiduguri Field Office, Caroline Waruguru Mwai, said âNLP is a platform that provides an opportunity for learners to access divers formal and non-formal knowledge and skills which are all aligned to digital literacy and numeracy skills.
Caroline Waruguru Mwai added that âthe platform has features of digital record of learning and data analytics functionality with both web and Mobile application which appears to be user friendly not even for the pupils and students but for the teachers and caregivers as well as out of school children.â
âNLP has been reaching over 290,000 users, including 190,000 students across 18 states in the country, providing access to 15,000 teaching and learning materials which are aligned with the national curriculum and as well the contemporary global supplementary resources. She maintained.
The Field Officer highlighted that in 2024, a total of 36,995 learners have been enrolled into the NLP as over 15,000 learners have actively registered in at least one course on the platform.
âUNICEF is coming with divers approaches to reach out to out-of-school children, and NLP supports both offline and online features. We are coming up with a platform that support offline connectivity so that if children are in a position that do not have internet they can be able to access the offline modality.â She stressed.
She also acknowledged that the giant initiative cannot be shouldered by the UNICEF alone, except with the help of community based organizations and the state government.
Caroline used the medium to acknowledge the significant role played by the Ministry of Education, Science Technology, and Innovation (MoESTI), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Splash Innovative Hub and Multi-Aid and Charity Initiate (MACI) as well as other community based organization for cordially working together in mobilizing and engaging the beneficiaries of NLP, adding that UNICEF is currently working to strategize efforts in boosting and redeploying offline devices to limited network areas in the state.
Earlier in his remark the Education Officer UNICEF, Mustapha stated that UNICEF in collaboration with the Borno State Government have been enhancing accessibility chances to learners in the state by developing concepts and programming for learners using Googleâs facilities.
Contributing, the chief executive officer, Splash innovative Hub, Fatima Muhammed Dawud, one of the partnering community based organization, described the project as successful, especially by measuring the expertise of the learners, thus, reiterated the need for parents, teachers and guardians in the state to complement the keen interest developed by the pupils and students in harnessing technology and leaning digital skills.
Emphasizing the need to adopt information communication technology in education, a Digital Skills Specialist at Zoa International, Engr. Al-Bashir Ishaq, reiterated the importance of digital learning in bridging educational gaps not just, appealing to stakeholders in the state to ensure that digital skills has been incorporate in the state school curriculum.
