With a view to advancing the educational standard of schools in Osun State and fortifying students with required skills to compete with their mates globally, a non-governmental organisation, ITECH Vocational Charity has donated well furnished computer laboratories to two secondary schools in the state.
The computer laboratories were presented to St Lawrence Secondary School, Ilesa and Iloko-Ijesa Mode College, Iloko-Ijesa.
The organisation has since its establishment trained over a hundred individuals on different IT programmes including computer and phone hardware repair techniques, Artificial Intelligence, cyber security, machine training among others as a means of empowering young Nigerians, investing in their future and giving back to the community.
At the official opening of its new Training Centre located opposite Sawmill, Omi Asoro area, Ilesa, on Monday, IVC graduated no fewer than 17 school teachers and other individuals who have been trained on IT Fundamentals (Train the Trainers) and ‘Solar Training.’
The Point gathered that IVC was established by a team of accomplished professionals who hail from Nigeria and have achieved success in their respective fields including Information Technology and business. The organisation is a non-profit entity, with trustees that are committed to empowering youths and giving back to their community.
After the graduation ceremony and presentation of certificates to beneficiaries, the Coordinator of the ITECH Vocational Charity Training Centre, Ilesa, Mr. Mosaku Moyogbore, took dignitaries and other participants on a tour of the facilities in the training Centre and also displayed some of the projects that students have been able to complete which included 1kva system solar, carrying 1000watts with inbuilt battery and other items.
One of the beneficiaries of the ‘Train the Trainers’ programme, Michael Oguntade, a teacher from Iloko Model College, Iloko-Ijesa, commended IVC for the training saying that he has learnt a lot and that, “After this programme, I intend to go further and do exploits in data science. We were trained on IT fundamentals. We are on mentorship stage for now and once I return to my school, I will engage my students and give a thorough step down of all I have learned for them.”
The centre Coordinator, Mosaku Moyogbore, during an interview, said, “We have a set of businessmen who have come together in order to give back to the community and that is the main reason why they set up ITECH Vocational Charity.”
“We are trying to train people in order to be skilled and to be empowered. We have so many trainings especially to those that want to go for cyber security, those that want to go for AI, machine learning and stuffs. Apart from that, we also have vocational training, the solar building training, and also the computer repairs and phone repairs. So, we have been able to develop curriculum for all these, to train them and today, we are so happy to graduate some of these students and apart from that, we are trying to look into the younger generation, those that are coming up and in order to reach the grassroots, we are trying to train teachers for them to be able to train their students.
“So, one of the programmes that we were able to graduate our students, we called it, ‘Train the Trainers’ whereby we were able to train the teachers and they in turn, will be able to train the students. We are expecting that in their various schools, they will carryout this assignment.
“We have 13 students who graduated in the ‘Train the Trainers’ and for the solar students, we have four of them who graduated. Over the years, since we have started, we have had over 100 students who have graduated from the programmes both online and on site,” he added.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony and launch of the new centre, the Chief Executive Officer of IVC, Mr Agboola Fayese, said the former centre at Ilesa Area of Ilesa was demolished by the state government for road expansion project, adding that for the vision not to die, a new edifice was donated by some philanthropists.
“The people who are graduating on our solar programme are engineers. We trained them for some months by an institute from England. We trained them as trainers. These are well qualified people. The teachers will return to their schools and plant this training on their pupils and students,” he stated.
In his remarks, a board member of IVC, Olasoji Gideon said, “We hope that the training centers and computer laboratories inaugurated today will serve as beacons of hope and transformation, lighting the way for future generations to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.”
The President of IVC, Mr Ladesuyi Adewale, in an interview said, “I am one of those who is so much keen about the development of education in this zone. This is why my friends who are abroad came with the idea that they want to improve the IT quality of our young ones, they want to shoot them into the world. So, that is how we started at B29, Okesa Street, Ilesa, our headquarters then, and we started with some computers, we started a lot of training on computer programming and repair of handsets, and solar installation and operations.
“We sent letters to about ten schools, two of them responded and they gave us students which we trained and they arrested to it that today, those students were very useful to them during their exams in the school for their computer programmes.
“We are so much keen about helping the young ones, so that the future will be bright for them and they wouldn’t have much difficulty in developing their skills right away from when they were very young,” the Managing Director of Adelad Bookstores Ilesa added.
The beneficiaries of the computer sets and trainings hailed the organization.
In his speech, the Principal of Iloko Model College, Olukayode Ogunwale thanked the ITECH Vocational Charity for its unwavering support and commitment to advancing the educational standards of the school, positing that, “The donation of 10 desktop computers and 3 laptop computers is not just a gift to our school, but an investment in the future of our students, our community, and our nation.”
He added, “The journey leading to this event has been marked by fruitful collaboration and a shared vision for a brighter future. Three of our representatives were privileged to receive Computer Fundamental Training from IVC, and today, we celebrate their graduation. Their newly acquired skills will undoubtedly have a transformative impact on our school, ensuring that students are equipped with the technological knowledge and skills necessary to excel in this digital age.
“As we launch these new computer devices, we look forward to a future where our students can explore, learn, and innovate with the tools that have been so generously provided. These computers will not only enhance our academic curriculum but will also open doors to new opportunities for our students, preparing them to compete on a global scale.”
