Edo Government has debunked reports that it was phasing out the use of educational tablets and the e-learning programme introduced by the immediate past administration under the EdoBEST initiative.
Mrs Ozavize Briggs, Executive Chairman, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (EdoSUBEB), made the clarification on Monday in Benin during an interactive session with executives of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo council.
Briggs noted that Gov. Monday Okpebholo-led administration remained committed to digital learning and was only updating the content in the tablets to align with the revised Universal Basic Education curriculum.
“We are not phasing out the tablets. What we are doing is replacing obsolete content with new materials developed in line with the current curriculum.
“The tablets belong to the Edo Government, while the content was created by consultants engaged by the previous administration,” she said.
The SUBEB boss explained that the state’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) unit was currently developing a new digital portal to host updated content.
According to her, the new platform may eventually be marketed to other states and countries for revenue generation.
She added that the new content drawn from the National Curriculum and approved textbooks was structured into schemes of work to ensure standardised teaching across all basic schools in the state.
“Our team, including civil servants, extracted content from approved books and the national curriculum to create a harmonized system.
“This means that every teacher will deliver the same lessons across the board using the same tools,” she said.
On infrastructure, the SUBEB chair revealed that the state government had embarked on the construction and rehabilitation of over 100 public schools to improve learning environment and eliminate situations where pupils sit on the floor during classes.
