Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said Abia State government is preparing its children with the knowledge and skills require to compete successfully at local, national and global levels.
Alausa stated this when he commissioned the newly completed Ogbo Central Smart School, Ubakala, Umuahia, the state capital.
He lauded Governor, Alex Otti for what he described as his visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to transforming education through strategic investments in human capital.
He said sustainable development is not measured solely by physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, but by deliberate investments in education and the intellectual capacity of the people.
“When you have a governor that is committed and thought and said, ‘I’m going to build a smart school, not just one, not two, not three, not four, but ten, twenty,’ that’s one that cares for the people.
“Today, your kids and Abia children will sit in this school. They will get the best educational material that a child in America, in London would also have right here in this community.
“They will learn how to use AI. Five years from now, ten years from now, Abia will lead the world,” said the minister, who had earlier represented Vice President Kashim Shettima at an event.
In his speech entitled “Tomorrow is the Reward,” Otti said the school is the first of three such projects to be commissioned this month across the three senatorial districts of the state.
Explaining that one school would be commissioned in each of the 17 local government areas, he noted that the state had moved into a new era of technology-driven and participatory model of learning.
Otti, who said education is free and compulsory in the school, informed that “Our focus has gone past the old mindset of going to school to pick a certificate and join the queue of job seekers thereafter.”
”We are poised to launch a mass of educated and visionary leaders who will go on to harness the untapped resources in our environment for widespread prosperity, as we see in other parts of the world.”
In his address, the commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Goodluck Ubochi, said the event was a declaration that the state is preparing her children for the future, and a realization of a bold vision.
Similarly, the executive chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board Lydia Onuoha, said the initiative is aimed at equipping the children with the skills required to thrive in the 21st-century global economy.
