FCTA, foundation train teachers, principals, administrators on AI

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has begun a 2-day training workshop for teachers, principals and administrators drawn from different schools across the six area councils of the FCT.

The workshop on specialized Artificial Intelligence (AI), which started on Thursday, was organized by Ibrosoft International Development Foundation (IIDF) in collaboration with the FCT Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI).

While declaring the programme open, Dr Olobashola Kolawole, Director of FCT DSTI, said AI would be used to eradicate quacks in the teaching profession within the FCT.

He said: “We are dealing with students and multitudes in a very high number in FCT and this is a jet age. We want these students to be artificial intelligent inclined. We want the teachers to go back to the class and introduce what AI is to students.

“We can see what is going on in the space. AI can be deployed in anything; war, academics, medical field and many other things. So we don’t need to go back. That’s why we say we want to use AI to eradicate quacks, indolent and people that are really not good in the system. This AI will serve as a backup. That’s why we are organizing the training.”

Ibrahim Abdullahi, Director General of IIDF, said at the end of the training, the teachers will know everything possible about AI and apply the knowledge to their classroom activities.

He said: “AI is now taking over. We organized the training specifically to enhance and improve knowledge and skills of staff of DSTI. After the training they can use AI in their workplaces. This will help them do some of the tasks that require human intelligence.

“Most of the participants are very intelligent. We want them to combine their natural intelligence with artificial intelligence to improve and enhance their productivity.”

Nwachukwu Angela, Director, Technology Acquisition and Promotion, FCT DSTI, said: “As a career civil servants so far I’ve discovered a lot of lapses in the productivity of civil servants and I want to believe a good number of the civil servants by the time they’re able to get to know about AI, it will increase their productivity.

“It will make work easier. It will make information accessible. It will help a lot in coordinating tasks that are being given to them.”