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Professional development training for IT teachers opens

Jan 6, 2010, 8:18 PM | Article By: Njie Baldeh

A week long Professional Development Training for IT teachers in Senior Secondary Schools in The Gambia, focusing on grade 10 to 12 IT curriculum on Monday kicked-off at Nusrat Senior Secondary School.

Organised by Freedom Camp International (FCI), with funding from the United States of America and Gamcel, the training aims to develop new teaching guidelines for IT teachers.

In his opening remarks, Victor O Akuegbuonwu, the Project Coordinator said Freedom Camp International is a charity based organisation working with the Ministry of Education, with the aim of providing teachers the opportunity to acquire 21 Century teaching learning skills, mainly targeting IT teachers, and then science and mathematics teachers.

The Project Coordinator added that sometimes in the month of March 2009, Freedom Camp International gathered IT teachers and students in Region 1, 2 and 3, to launch this noble IT teacher development project called NIC-NET.

According to him, the workshop was organised to review and adopt new teaching steps.

He said the study supports the development of skills and attitudes that increase candidates' ability to address social and ethical issues of technological advancement.

"Indeed ICT is having a profound impact on the world, affecting both jobs that people do and how they do them. New media for communication and social networking are having a significant impact on the relationship that people form. Today teachers and students are finding new ways to learn through the medium of technology and that is the reason why we are all gathered here," he said.

For his part, Mr. SK Bojang, the Principal of Nusrat Senior Secondary School welcomed the participants at the workshop, noting that it is an integral part of development.

Noting that IT is a fundamental tool that any nation should adopt, Bojang said the idea would develop the skills of teachers.

Mr. Bojang thanked Freedom Camp International for organising the workshop and the government of the United States of America and Gamcel for funding the workshop.