Community Outreach For Educational Change Trains 145 Rural Teachers in Digital Literacy and Modern Teaching Skills

In a bid to bridge the digital literacy gap at the grassroots level, Community Outreach For Educational Change (COEC), Nigeria, has successfully trained over 145 teachers, facilitators, and staff from eight implementing TLG Schools on the use of digital tools for teaching and learning.

The one-day ICT training, held in Kaduna, focused on equipping educators with the digital skills necessary to integrate technology into lesson planning, classroom delivery, and student engagement. Speaking to the Daily Sun, Swanta Blessing Bonat, Executive Director of COEC, explained that the initiative also aimed to promote safe, ethical, and effective use of the internet for teaching, research, and professional development.

A pre-training assessment revealed that 80 percent of participating rural teachers had no prior knowledge of basic ICT, highlighting the urgent need for such capacity-building interventions. The training sessions covered practical areas such as safeguarding online presence, creating strong passwords, identifying fraudulent websites or messages, and effectively leveraging digital platforms for lesson planning and classroom instruction.

Participants shared positive feedback about the impact of the training. Mr. Daniel, a mathematics teacher, noted:

“I’ve been calculating my students’ grades manually for years. Now, I can use formulas to grade automatically, saving me hours of work.”

Similarly, Miss Faith, a young teacher, expressed relief at learning to navigate online teaching resources efficiently:

“I often struggled to find suitable teaching materials online. The session on online research has enabled me to identify credible sources and compile digital worksheets for my class. This will completely change how I prepare lessons.”

The training successfully enhanced teachers’ digital competence and instilled a culture of safe and effective technology use in education. By equipping educators with modern tools and practical skills, COEC is helping to transform lesson delivery, improve student engagement, and ensure rural schools are not left behind in the digital era.

Swanta Blessing Bonat concluded:

“Empowering teachers with digital skills is key to improving learning outcomes in our schools. This training will not only make teaching more effective but also inspire students to embrace technology safely and creatively.”

The initiative represents COEC’s ongoing commitment to strengthening education in underserved communities, ensuring that both teachers and students can thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.