The federal government, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the government of Japan and the Pan African University (PAU), has inaugurated a master training workshop in Abuja to strengthen teachers’ professional development through mobile learning platforms.

The workshop, themed “Empowering Female Teachers and School Leaders through Integrating Mobile-based Learning in the Pan African Virtual and Electronic University (PAVEU) Initiative”, aims to enhance digital learning and leadership capacity among educators.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad, said the initiative aligned with the federal government’s commitment to improving teachers’ skills through technology-driven training programmes.

Mr Ahmad, represented by the Director of Colleges of Education, Uche Uba, said the workshop formed part of the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), designed to improve learning outcomes, strengthen teacher development and promote innovation.

According to her, continuous professional development remains one of the most effective ways of improving education quality, particularly as teachers adapt to emerging technologies and evolving learning needs.

“Continuous professional development is key to improving education quality and helping teachers keep up with new technologies and changing learning needs,” she said.

The minister said mobile learning platforms would provide flexible and accessible opportunities for teachers to acquire new competencies regardless of location, particularly benefiting educators in rural and underserved communities.

She added that the project placed special emphasis on empowering female teachers and school leaders through enhanced digital skills and leadership development, urging participants to transfer acquired knowledge to colleagues and communities.

Also speaking, Akiko Miyazawa, Attaché for Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria, said the project reflected Japan’s commitment to advancing human capital development across Africa through inclusive and technology-enabled education.

Ms Miyazawa said Japan contributed about $1 million to the initiative, which supported digital transformation and inclusive education in line with commitments made at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in 2025.

She said the project would provide flexible, mobile-based professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders, particularly women working in challenging and underserved environments.

“As master trainers, you are the catalysts of this transformation. The knowledge and skills you acquire will spread across target institutions in Nigeria, empowering countless teachers and ultimately generations of Nigerian learners,” she said.

Earlier, the acting Officer-in-Charge of the Education Sector at UNESCO Abuja, Adeyemi Oladeji, described teachers as the most important school-based factor in improving learning outcomes and achieving quality education goals.

According to him, the initiative is designed to support teachers, especially those in underserved and hard-to-reach communities, through flexible, inclusive and technology-driven learning opportunities.

“This initiative is designed to support teachers, especially those in underserved and hard-to-reach communities, by providing flexible, inclusive and technology-driven learning opportunities,” he said.

Mr Oladeji urged participants to become champions of continuous professional development by supporting fellow teachers and promoting the adoption of digital learning tools within their institutions.

As part of the programme, organisers presented 40 tablets and two sets of edge-computing devices to selected teachers and school leaders to support digital learning and facilitate implementation of the training.

The workshop, implemented by UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO-IICBA), brought together teachers from the six geopolitical zones and will run for three days.

(NAN)