The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), in collaboration with First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, has conducted a three-day training for no fewer than 80 teachers of post-primary institutions drawn from different states of the country.
The training took place at the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where the teachers were exposed to all-in-one educational devices that help to enhance the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The teachers were introduced to ‘K-Yan,’ which is defined in the technology world as an interactive teaching/learning platform that incorporates the utility of a fully functional computer, high luminosity projection system, large screen television, DVD player, in-built audio system and an Internet browser, all integrated into a single compact unit called CSRBOX.
NCDMB director of capacity building, Dr. Ama Ikuru, while speaking at the opening ceremony for the training, said STEM education has been the focus of the board over time, as it is in line with its core mandate to develop indigenous capacities and capabilities for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
Ikuru stated that NCDMB has undertaken several capacity-building programmes for teachers, aimed at exposing them to trends in technology as a result of evident deficiencies in the quality of education from within the formal school system that need to be remedied.
“Most of the people coming out of schools today are not ready for the oil and gas industry,” Ikuru added.
The NCDMB director also noted that teachers’ educational standards determine the quality of products that will come out of the school system, hence the necessity of upskilling them on a consistent basis since students are only as good as their teachers make them to be.
The general manager of corporate communications and zonal coordination for NCDMB, Angela Okoro, emphasized that the training was very important not only to the teachers but to the board and the wider society. She urged the teachers to strive to make the most of the opportunity provided and freely express themselves wherever they encountered difficulties in the course of the training.
In his own remarks, NCDMB’s manager of capacity building, Mr. Timbiri Augustine, told the teachers that human capacity development is at the heart of the board’s operations, and that the organization is passionate about promoting STEM education because it determines how successful or otherwise an individual or corporate organization could be in the industry.
The training, which was organized by NCDMB and First E&P was geared towards engendering interest in academic subjects that would guarantee the steady supply of critically needed expertise for oil and gas industry operations.