The Nigeria Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) in partnership with Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited has launched an innovative e-Curriculum that will make educational curriculum both for students and teachers available online. The innovation will be powered by Intel processor and will run on Microsoft computer software.
The launch which took place at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja on Tuesday was chaired by the Minister of State for Education, Nyeesom Wike. Other dignitaries in attendance included theExecutive Secretary, Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Professor Godswill Obioma; Managing Director of Sidmarch Technologies Nigeria Limited, Mr. Hassan Alao. Others were Corporate Affairs Manager of Intel Corporations Nigeria, Akinola Babatunde and Director, Education for Microsoft Nigeria, Patrick Onwumere among other stakeholders.
The e-Curriculum project is in line with the core mandate of NERDC which is the agency of the Federal Ministry of Education. The National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) is the implementing agency for policies of the Federal Ministry of Education in respect of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) and other educational programmes nationwide.
Besides the Minister, many stakeholders in the educational sector hailed the initiative as a welcome development especially in the face of the global digitalization trend and the limitless use to which online medium can be put to.
Speaking on the innovation, Corporate Affairs Manager, INTEL Corporations Nigeria, Akinola Babatunde expressed delight at the role INTEL played in making the e-Curriculum see the light of the day. He explained that the e-Curriculum involves the development of a scalable portal for the provision of digital online version of the present Curriculum that was developed by Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council and approved by the Ministry of Education for Nigerian schools.
“Intel is proud to be associated with such a novel initiative that has resulted in the creation of the e-Curriculum that is being launched today. The decision to support the e-Curriculum initiative was in line with the core objectives of Intel which is to help to expand the frontiers of solutions provisions.
“It is common knowledge that Intel Explore and Learn is a digital based portal that has been in the vanguard of advancing the frontiers of teaching and learning by taking it beyond the four walls of the classrooms and more available to students and the teachers. Like the Intel Explore and Learn portal, the new e-Curriculum will be powered by Intel processor with support from Microsoft Windows platform.” Babatunde stated.
Also speaking at the event, Director, Education for Microsoft Nigeria, Patrick Onwumere explained, “It is an accepted fact that the pace at which a nation’s economy develops is strongly tied to its ability to access and utilize knowledge, the achievement of which is largely attributable to the development and deployment of ICT. Incidentally, for us at Microsoft, providing that Access strongly aligns with our 4Afrika initiative, reason we are very happy with the portal development which is a great addition to our many other collaborative efforts on education with the Nigerian government and its agencies.
While commending the partnership between NERDC and Sidmach Technologies Limited, Onwumere added, “This portal launch today is a huge leap towards easing access to teaching and learning and I dare say that this is in line with global trend. Nations of the world are now adopting trends that take teaching and learning to homes and in the palms of those that are willing and this is why Microsoft will continue to provide the technical support needed to make this happen as we have always done.”
The e-Curriculum solution is a complete teaching and learning tool which helps teachers teach and students learn better, using the NERDC approved curriculum. The solution provides an interactive, analytic and collaborative learning environment for teachers and students.
