The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) with support from Google, today, began a two-day workshop for the adoption of online safety courses in the Nigerian school curriculum.
The workshop is taking place at Freshland Hotel Mararaba Old Karu, Abuja.
Communications Lead, PPDC, Mbanan Mku made the disclosure in a statement emailed to our reporter.
NERDC is the Ministry of Education’s council responsible for curriculum development.
PPDC is a citizens sector organization that seeks to promote increased citizens participation in governance, and its Digital Inclusion and Safer Internet (DISI) program promotes universal access to ICTs in a way that preserves the safety and freedom of the internet.
According to the statement, the aim for the online safety curriculum adoption is to teach the Nigerian child the fundamentals of digital safety so they can be safe, confident explorers of the online world.
“The purpose of this workshop was to draft a Stand-Alone Online Safety Module for the Nigerian School Curriculum,” the statement read in part.
The Executive Secretary, NERDC, Professor Ismail Junaidu, described this development as imperative to enabling the youth thrive in the digital era.
He said, “I am glad that we are collaborating with Google and PPDC in ensuring that every Nigerian child gains knowledge on how to be responsible and safe in the online world.”
The CEO of PPDC, Nkemdilim Ilo described as timely, the move to adopt online safety into the Nigerian curriculum.
“The adoption of online safety in the Nigerian curriculum would enable our children to be responsible digital citizens who use the internet for socio-economic good,” she said.
The statement further disclosed that from the first quarter of 2018, NERDC, PPDC and Google have been developing a framework towards the adoption of online safety courses in Nigerian school curriculum.
PPDC and NERDC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize this partnership last week.
“During the workshop NERDC, PPDC and other IT specialist in attendance worked together to define the scope of the curriculum; Identify Resource persons and Identify carrier subjects such as Computer studies, English Language, Civic Education, Commerce and Economics that online safety can be infused into,” the statement further read.
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