The Story Your path to the story
Hassan Folorunsho
The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Education, Ms Adetola Salau, has said that the state government is building the capacity of Lagos pupils in science and technology through STEAM UP Lagos to enable them to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.
Speaking at the 2021 STEAM UP Lagos convention, held at the Randinson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, the governor’s aide said that Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics, STEAM represents the holistic, transdisciplinary approach to subject matter delivery, taking into account the interrelataedness of concepts encountered in their personal lives and immediate environment with a view to proffering long-term affordable, sustainable solution to these challenges.
She said: “By moving learning from rote memorization to practical, hands-on engagement for students and equipping young Lagosians between secondary and tertiary education with skills for immediate personal and financial productivity we will achieve Mr. Governor’s 10-year technology innovation plan of a future generation of Lagosians who are Techpreneurs and Makers.
According to her, the the STEAM UP LAGOS Project is hinged on four themes which include Curriculum Design & Integration, Teacher engagement/training in modern STEAM Pedagogy Set up of STEAM Laboratories/Cafes and ° Engaging students in learning boosting extracurricular STEAM activities.
She added that the STEAM Pedagogy takes into account the art/aesthetic component of STEM to ensure that even students who do not identify as core science and technology Inclined are not excluded and contribute their quota to the developmentof STEM in Nigeria.
Salau said: “Not many know that a famous Hollywood Actress of the 1930s to 1950s (Hedy Lamarr), developed the frequency hopping code that would change radio frequencies simultaneously. Used successfully during World War 2 to combat enemy interception of the United States Navy frequencies, this revolution in STEM was furthermore a precursor ingredient to development of today’s GPS systems, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi networks connections and COMA used in wireless cell phones.”
She added that state government would prioritize partnership in order to achieve the target, with different collaborative partners and international development organizations, Lagos will soon produce many tech savvy.
The commissioner said that Lagos would continue to prioritize technological development and innovations in its budget. He said that the government had to increase its budget for human capital development by 33%, adding that 15,000 devices were deployed to teachers to increase their capacity and enable them to train the pupils.
He added that the state would have to embark on several partnership to enable it to achieve the target, adding that Governor Sanwo-Olu remains committed to the driving Lagos economy with tech savvy young lads.
Egube noted that each of the the device was already configured to assist the government monitor teachers efficiency especially their resumption and teaching activities at school, adding that to further aid the usage of the devices, N161 billion was set aside for human capital development including trainings and other activities in the 2021 Budget .
