Education
REGALO Hope Foundation (RHF), a non governmental organisation (NGO) says it has offered free digital skills training to secondary schools with ICT labs in Lagos State,
Mrs Chineye Onuorah, founder of the foundation, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
She said the training was to promote digital learning among the students ,adding beneficiaries were from low fee schools.
Onuorah said that six private schools with digital clubs in Alimosho area of the state,benefitted from courses such as basic Analytics, graphic and canva designs.
“The essence of digital clubs and reason we are encouraging it in schools is to help every child learn a skill to widen their academic knowledge without paying for it.
“This pilot project is running here in Lagos for now, and we have launched in only six schools, while we are looking forward to open and work with more schools.
“Acquiring skiils in coding,for instance ,is very expensive. So the idea behind the initiative is to empower students with some of these skills for free ,”she added.
She urged schools that have ICT labs,to create digital clubs and source for NGOs with same initiative to get training at no cost for the benefits of their students.
Onuorah, however, solicited support through donations of laptops from individuals,private and public sector ,to sustain and extend the initiative to more schools
“We are having challenges, but the pressing one is the inability to have funds to acquire laptops that can be moved to schools to hold trainings.
“This is the reason we have resolved to be working with schools that already have ICT labs, since we have the manpower to render the service effectively for free to students,” Onuorah said.
Describing RHF as a Pan-Nigerian, independent, and non-profit organisation, created to accelerate transfer of digital, technical skills, theoretical knowledge, Onuorah said the training had great prospects.
According to her, it will create social, economic, and financial opportunities for the disadvantaged, excluded, underserved, displaced, and marginalised population segments in Nigeria.
“Since its inception, RHF has made significant contributions toward empowering individuals across Nigeria, including awarded scholarships to over 691 students and provided economic empowerment opportunities for over 30,000 women, through start-up funds for petty trading.
“In addition to these efforts, RHF conducts free health tests in underserved communities and establishes mentoring clubs in secondary schools throughout Lagos State”,he said.
The founder also said that the foundation sought to enhance its value proposition, while adopting world best global practice.
`RHF is collaborating with like-minded individuals and organisations to accelerate the mobilisation and deployment of resources, aimed at bridging the expanding gap in digital and vocational skills,”she said. (NAN)
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Tags: Chineye Onuorah Regalo Hope Foundation
