Three schools have emerged winners of the Nigerian Learning Passport Quiz Competition organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Borno State Government (BOSG) and other partners in Maiduguri.
El Kanemi College of Theology School won the primary schools category, Baraimul Imam Secondary School emerged the winner in the junior secondary schools category and Maiduguri Capital School won in the senior secondary schools category .
In her welcome address, the UNICEF, OIC Education Manager, Maiduguri Field Office., Caroline Waruguru Mwai said: “To all our children who took this initiative wholeheartedly and have expressed their enthusiasm in learning, I thank you. I would like to encourage you and emphasise on the need to continue learning more and acquire digital skills.”
She said as the world evolves into the digital world, digital platforms become crucial avenues for increased access to knowledge and skills acquisition, which is mandatory for a better future.
“To our dear Parent and teachers, we appreciate your effort and urge you to continue supporting these young people to continue learning for better future,” Mwai said.
She explained that the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) is a digital learning platform, which has free access to localise content and enables quality teaching and learning activity in the library.
” It has a digital record of learning and data analytics functionality and has both web and Mobile applications. NLP has been deployed in 18 states, reaching over 290,000 users, including 190,000 students. It provides access to 15,000 teaching and learning materials aligned with the national curriculum and global supplementary resources.”
She said:“The platform can be used by Learners, Teachers, Educators, Parents/caregivers. In 2023, Borno state reached a total of 19,300 learners through NLP, while in 2024 the state had a total of 36,995 learners enrolled with over 15,000 actively registered in at least one course on the platform.”
“We are currently in the process of deploying 10 offline devices to cater for locations without network connectivity. UNICEF has taken further steps to train the EiE Working group partners on the NLP anticipating that partners will equally prioritize digital learning for their targeted interventions.
Meanwhile, UNICEF with support from various donors (Airtel, SILSA, SONY and FCDO) have provided 270 Samsung tablets, 30 routers and projectors across all implementation schools.
According to her, the Ministry of Education, Science Technology, and Innovation (MoESTI) and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) have played a vital role in mobilising and engaging strategically on this initiative through their technical team.
“I want to take this opportunity on behalf of UNICEF to thank the Borno State Government for their tremendous support and collaboration on the implementation of the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) in the state,” Mwai said
The Education Officer UNICEF, Mustapha Shehu presented an overview of the Nigerian Learning Passport (NLP) as a platform for digital learning from paper to digital line in all languages and skills for students to have access to study materials as well as data analysis.
He said UNICEF in collaboration with the Borno State Government developed concepts and programming for students’ usage and accessibility using different platforms and facilities on Google.
Schools that participated in the three categories of primary, junior and senior secondary schools category Quiz include Gwange I Primary School, GSS Maiduguri, Government College Maiduguri, Al Ansar Academy, Women Day Secondary School, GGSS Maiduguri, Gov’t. Technical S chool, El Kanemi College of Theology.
Others are Government College Maiduguri Women Day Secondary, Girls Child Concern, Govt Girls College, Maiduguri Capital School and Gov’t College Maiduguri.