AUN President Urges Education Institutions To Use Technology

The president of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Dr Margee Ensign, has disclosed that about 50% of Nigerian children within the age bracket from 5 to 15 years cannot read in their native language.

She deplored the poor state of education at the just concluded 2015 conference on “Technology Assisted Learning”. The 2-day conference centred on the need for learning institutions and stakeholders to appreciate and embrace the use of technology in delivering education to Nigerians.

Speaking on the “Successful Examples of ICT Implementation in Northeast Nigeria”, Dr Ensign emphasized the importance of the ability to read as an essential requirement for one to survive in the world. She added that there was a need for universities to interact and help develop their host communities.

Giving examples of activities of the AUN in Yola, Adamawa state, and environs, the president said the ability of universities students to affect and engage their immediate communities positively signalled that they would become better leaders with the interest of the people at heart.

“AUN has been leveraging on the opportunities provided by technology to enhance education. We have a programme called Student Empowered through Language and Arithmetic (STELAR) which helps our students to build their leadership skills. We also have helped in reconnecting families that were displaced by the insurgency crisis in the northeast through the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT),” the optimistic AUN president said.

“We have also contributed to maintaining peace by partnering with Adamawa Peace Initiative which has helped in identifying vulnerable people with the aim of ensuring that the breach of peace is curtailed.”

She however lamented the high level of illiteracy in Nigeria, disclosing that “3 out of 4 children in Adamawa state cannot read”.

In another development related to children’s protection, the Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) on Thursday, August 27, marched along the streets of Abuja to mark 500 days since the abduction of more than 200 Chibok girls from their hostels by Boko Haram in Borno state.

Boko Haram is a terrorist organization that wants to carve out an Islamic caliphate from the northeastern part of Nigeria. The terrorist group believes that “western education is a sin.”