Ekpiwhre, who revealed this at the closing ceremony of the National Information Technology Development Agency-sponsored ICT training programme for schools in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, said that initiatives being executed by the ministry were also aimed at a comprehensive human development of Nigerians.
Such initiatives, she added, were the Catch Them Young Computer training for young school pupils and the Open Source Software.
Others are the Computer Laboratory for all Schools and the Information and Communication Technology for Development [ICT4D] Strategic Action Plan.
Ekpiwhre said the ministry, through the NITDA, would provide the enabling environment for both public and the private sectors in the globally competitive economy.
She said school children would be taught how to develop soft ware in the soon-to-be established software development centres all over the country.
According to her, apart from making them self-employed, this would stimulate foreign exchange earnings for the country.
“In order to boost ICT penetration among Nigerians, the ministry is designing a scheme for each school to have a computer laboratory,” she said.
In his speech, the Director-General of NITDA, Professor Cleopas Angaye, said through partnership with the Korean Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion, about 85 participants from several schools from the FCT had been trained on ICT education.
The programme, he said, was aimed at boosting IT education in public schools in the country.
The Secretary for Education in the FCT, Alhaji Adamu Hussain, said in addition to boosting ICT penetration in the FCT, the FCT administration had also launched the Teachers Acquired PC Purchase programme making it possible for over 5,000 teachers to acquire their own laptops at highly subsidised rates with liberal payment terms.
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Quelle/Source: The Punch, 05.09.2008
