Lucas Ajanaku
TWO firms, TechQuest STEM Academy, a leading digital literacy organisation and IHS Nigeria, subsidiary of IHS Towers, have said digital literacy could only be acheived by training students and teachers.
The two organisations have therefore partnered to facilitate a new community initiative called Mission-T programme.
The organisations said Mission-T was developed with the primary objective of improving information communication technology (ICT) education and empowerment in selected schools and communities across Nigeria. The is designed to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and help stimulate interest and participation in STEM fields across the country.
It will run in Oyo, Rivers and Kano states, with a total of 45 schools selected as beneficiaries impacting 60 educators and 4,500 young students.
IHS Nigeria Corporate Social Responsibility Senior Manager, Cima Sholotan, said the programme has been strategically developed to align with IHS Towers’ four sustainability pillars, namely: Ethics, People, Environment and Education.
“We believe that by empowering our communities and promoting ICT education, we are creating sustainable opportunities for competitiveness and improved ICT awareness in a digitally driven world,” he said.
The programme will be implemented by the TechQuest STEM Academy, a nonprofit STEM education provider which currently supports over 11,000 young people across 12 states in the country.
IHS Nigeria will help fund the design, development and delivery of a practical based ICT curriculum which includes textbooks, workbooks, academic videos, an interactive portal and a mobile app to assist teachers and Mission – T ambassadors in the delivery of STEM education.
Director and Co-Founder of the TechQuest STEM Academy, Charles Emembolu, said: “We believe that the Mission – T programme aligns with the fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) by focusing on merging locally designed STEM content and toolkits with government engagement.
This is made possible through the support of firms such as IHS Nigeria. This collaboration contributes to closing the gap in terms of digital skills shortage and supports TechQuest’s overall mission to help one million Africans become digitally literate. Developing countries like Nigeria have a huge part to play and we are delighted to provide that support.”