UNICEF targets over 20,000 youths in Katsina for Artificial Intelligence training
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The Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsinma, in collaboration with the UNICEF Kano Field Office, aims to train at least 20,000 youths across the state in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Malam Halilu Ahmed, UNICEF’s focal person at the college, disclosed this in Katsina on Monday, at a training for 700 lecturers, teachers and facilitators on the adoption of AI in learning and teaching.
According to Ahmed, the aim of the AI training is for lecturers, teachers, and facilitators to be equipped and then pass this knowledge on to their students across various schools in the state.
He explained that already, they have already trained some coordinators who will carry out the training for the youths, including out-of-school children.
“There are 10 technical schemes who were also trained in Kano on this programme, to oversee the training for the youths across various centres,” he said.
According to him, each of the trained lecturers and teachers is expected to train and monitor no fewer than 40 participants, so that they will ultimately receive a certificate.
Malam Isma’il Bello, one of the facilitators and a technical member on the generative artificial intelligence state team, said the training was important.
“You know, there is this development of artificial intelligence, and people are actually taking advantage of artificial intelligence to do all stuff.
“These courses were mounted to ensure that people get to use AI in the right way, especially the young ones. This is the right time to give them the knowledge, so that they don’t misuse it.
“If we allow our society to use the technology without being guided, we’re actually going to face trouble in the future,” Bello said.
He added that approximately 200 lecturers from tertiary institutions were initially trained, and they have now trained 300 teachers from secondary schools.
Bello noted that there were other trainees currently receiving training in some CBT centres to handle out-of-school children.
“You see, the number we are training is actually going to be somewhere around 700 altogether, who are also expected to train about 20,000 youths.
“There are three courses that every participant in the training is expected to take, especially the generative AI foundation, the generative AI medium, and the generative AI master.
“Each of these trainees, after successfully completing a training, will earn a certificate, which is recognised worldwide by Microsoft Corporation, and the certificate is issued by the Federal Ministry of Education.”
One of the participants, Malam Ibrahim Jabir, a Guardian and Counseling Master at GGSS Tsagero, said he had learned a great deal from the training, which he was previously unaware of.
“Now I’m very familiar with them, honestly. I think it has been very helpful. And, insha’Allah, we hope to integrate what we have learned here into our various schools.
“It’s going to simplify things for us and make things different, especially from the lesson plan, the way we administer our lessons, and the way we handle our students; this time, it is going to be different.”
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