Kehinde Adewole, Ado-Ekiti
Representatives of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) were in Ekiti State recently, where they explained how Nigerian youths and children could stay safe while using the Internet.
Chidimma Udeh, project lead/ communication officer, PPDC, and Ufere Samuel, a software engineer (IGHub), gave tips during an online safety education for more than 2,000 teachers in Ekiti State. It was organised by PPDC, with support from Google.
Udeh said: “The online safety curriculum adoption into the Nigerian national curricula for children and teenagers was developed last year by the PPDC, in collaboration with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and support from Google. It was approved by the Federal Ministry of Education in November 2019. In today’s fast-growing digital age, online safety education is paramount. Google and PPDC are committed to promoting citizens’ participation in governance by institutionalising safer Internet practices.
“We are infusing the curriculum into the already existing subjects in the primary and secondary schools across the nation. The Ministry of Education wants the programme to get to all the students in the schools and we are training the teachers and building their online safety knowledge capacity so as to enable them deliver the courses effectively to their students.
“Over 2,000 teachers have been captured in Ekiti for the training and these teachers are those who teach subjects such as the basic sciences and technology, civic education and computer science. We have had two weeks’ training for the teachers. The training was to ensure that the Nigerian youths, teenagers and children are safe online, that they are responsible and respectful while making use of the Internet.”
Ufere Samuel, the resource person, explained what the teachers learnt: “We have taught the teachers how to stay safe online and also how to help their students in primary and secondary schools to stay safe online.
“We can’t curtail the students activities online but we can control it by enlightening them on how better to make use of the Internet. The best way to give the students the enlightenment is to teach their teachers who will in turn impart the knowledge on them.”
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Mrs. Osuniyi Ademiju Deborah, a teacher at Ajelagin Secondary School in Ikere Ekiti, said: “The training has really equipped us to impart the knowledge to our students. We can now effectively build the capacity of our students on how they can stay safe online so that we can have a safe society. We appreciate the efforts of the PPDC and Google in this respect.”