The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has challenged stakeholders in education to ensure that nation’s education system prepare Nigerian youths for competitive advantage at the global stage.
Adamu made the assertion on Thursday at the 2018 Education Convergence Summit organised by Educorp World, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.
“Our education system must produce adequate middle level and high level manpower with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to play an active role in our country’s growth and development.
“It must prepare our youths to give Nigeria competitive advantage in the global knowledge economy.
“Knowledge economy has been defined as an economy in which the process of production and services is based on knowledge intensive activities.
“It is an economy that places greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources.
“It is no longer about oil or solid minerals; it is an economy in which knowledge has replaced the more well known physical factors of production,’’ he said.
Adamu noted that trend in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) had changed and extended the frontiers of education in its delivery to the populace.
He said this had presented the nation with new challenges and created the urgent need to rethink education within the context of the global environment.
He noted that the theme of the summit aligned with the current drive by the Federal Government to provide qualitative education for all Nigerians.
He added that the theme fitted into the Federal Ministry of Education Smart Education Project.
‘‘The smart education project is an integrated solution of application, platform and hardware, which includes network connections, digital teaching environments, online learning platforms, and automated management systems, interactive and efficient teaching methods, along with supporting ICT infrastructure.’’
The minister affirmed that the ministry was committed to quality education for competitiveness as demonstrated in government’s policies, strategies and other initiatives.
Adamu, however, noted that more concerted efforts needed to be put in place to enable the nation catch up fast in the moving world of digital technology and global competitiveness.
He expressed the hope that the recommendations reached at the summit would be useful to the ministry to achieve set objectives.