The Abia State Government has commenced intensive digital training for teachers ahead of the resumption of learning in its technology-enabled Smart Schools, with a focus on preparing educators for a more technology-driven and student-centred approach to teaching.
The training began on Thursday at the newly completed Umuomaiukwu Smart School in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area and is being facilitated by Blue Giraffe Development Ltd.
The exercise is designed to equip teachers with the skills required to effectively use digital tools and technologies in the classroom while moving away from traditional approaches that rely heavily on memorisation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the programme focuses on technology-driven and student-centred learning, reflecting the changing nature of education and the increasing role of digital tools in classrooms.
Speaking during the training, Orieji Okwara-Emele, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Giraffe Development Ltd., said teachers remained central to the success of the Smart Schools initiative.
She expressed optimism about the current batch of teachers undergoing the training, noting that many of them had not previously received similar exposure to the technologies that would be available in the new schools.
Okwara-Emele said the programme was designed around 21st Century Pedagogy, with particular emphasis on the four Cs of blended learning: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking.
She argued that conventional memorisation was no longer sufficient for preparing children for the modern world, stressing that technology and digital tools could help pupils access information and engage more effectively with learning.
According to her, teachers would be expected to guide pupils in using technology to find and engage with information rather than simply requiring them to memorise large amounts of content.
The training is also expected to prepare teachers for the use of various digital tools that will form part of the Smart Schools learning environment.
Laptops and Smart Boards for Teachers
Okwara-Emele disclosed that teachers would receive laptops and be trained to use interactive Smart Boards during classroom instruction.
Pupils, on their part, will use tablets for classroom activities, providing them with direct access to digital learning resources.
The Smart Schools will also expose pupils to emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence, robotics, coding and virtual reality.
The inclusion of these technologies is intended to give pupils early exposure to skills that are becoming increasingly relevant in education, employment and the wider digital economy.
Okwara-Emele stressed that the training would not be a one-off exercise.
She said Governor Alex Otti had made continuous learning and updates mandatory, suggesting that teachers would continue to receive opportunities to improve their digital and teaching skills as technology and educational practices evolve.
She also linked the Smart Schools initiative to the state government’s broader investment in education, pointing to Abia’s allocation of 20 per cent of its budget to the sector.
According to Okwara-Emele, the investment represents a commitment to ensuring that Abia’s schoolchildren are not left behind as education and society become increasingly digital.
She also urged parents to ensure that their children attend school regularly and take full advantage of the opportunities provided through the Smart Schools programme.
20 Smart Schools Across Abia
The Umuomaiukwu Smart School is one of 20 fully digital public primary schools being developed by the Otti administration across the state’s 17 local government areas.
NAN reported that the Umuomaiukwu facility is among the largest Smart Schools completed under the programme, following the Ubakala Smart School.
The development is part of the state’s efforts to introduce modern facilities and digital learning tools into public primary education.
The programme also places greater emphasis on preparing teachers, rather than simply providing schools with technology.
The latest training is therefore intended to ensure that educators can make effective use of the equipment and digital infrastructure being introduced into the schools.
Victoria Ikedichi, one of the instructors, said the first day of the programme focused on communication, collaboration and the effective use of technology in teaching.
She said the availability of Smart School facilities meant teachers needed to have sufficient knowledge of the tools to ensure that pupils benefited from them.
Ikedichi added that teachers needed to become sufficiently technology-savvy to prepare pupils who can learn and compete in an increasingly digital environment.
The emphasis on teacher capacity is particularly important because the introduction of computers, tablets, Smart Boards and other digital infrastructure does not automatically translate into improved learning outcomes.
Teachers must be able to integrate the tools into lessons and use them to support interaction, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.
For newly recruited teachers participating in the programme, the training represents a significant departure from conventional classroom methods.
One participant, Ruth Udeonye, described the Smart School initiative as a major development and said she expected the training to improve her computer literacy and ability to engage pupils with the digital tools provided.
She said teachers were looking forward to working with the smart laptops and other equipment that would be issued to them.
Another participant, Emmanuel Nwagbara, described the training as the best he had experienced in the state.
Nwagbara said the programme would enable teachers to provide real-time knowledge through information and communication technology rather than relying solely on conventional blackboard-and-chalk teaching methods.
He added that the approach could make learning faster, easier and more accessible for pupils.
The training comes as Abia prepares to expand the use of technology across its public primary education system.
By combining digital infrastructure with teacher training, the Smart Schools initiative seeks to address both sides of technology-enabled education: providing the tools and ensuring that educators know how to use them effectively.
The introduction of AI, robotics, coding and virtual reality also indicates an effort to expose pupils to emerging technologies from an early stage.
For teachers, this will require continuous development as the technologies and methods used in the classroom continue to evolve.
The state government’s decision to make continuous learning part of the programme is therefore expected to be important to maintaining the effectiveness of the Smart Schools.
The training at Umuomaiukwu marks another step towards the rollout of Abia’s technology-enabled public schools, with teachers being prepared to take on a different role in the classroom.
Rather than relying primarily on memorisation and conventional teaching methods, the programme is encouraging educators to use technology to promote communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.
As the 20 Smart Schools are developed across Abia, the effectiveness of the initiative will depend in significant part on how well teachers can integrate the available technologies into everyday learning.
For the teachers currently undergoing training, the exercise provides an opportunity to acquire the digital skills needed to operate in the new environment and prepare pupils for an increasingly technology-driven future.