NAN
A non-governmental organisation, Paradigm initiative (PI), has begun free java training for students of tertiary institutions in an effort to boost entrepreneurship and skills development.
Mr Taiwo Olayinka, PI’s Programme Officer, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the training, known as `techtiary’, would be held on weekends.
He said that interested students would be trained until graduation from their schools.
Olayinka said that the training would make such students more employable on graduation and have competence to develop business plans.
READ ALSO NCAA warns of rise in fraudulent travel agents in Nigeria
According to him, no some students of the University of Lagos, Yaba College of Technology and Lagos State College of Health Technology have taken advantage of the programme.
“What we do in techtiary programme is that students have a project that runs throughout their academic years depending on the institution.
“If it university, it will be four or five years; for polytechnics, it is two years for Ordinary National Diploma and four years for Higher National Diploma students.
“Within the period, the students are meant to develop a particular techtiary project which is what we will use to measure their skills,’’ Olayinka said.
He told NAN that the Java training began this August.
According to him, many students in higher institutions have not been able to make use of progammimg languages such as Java.
“When you see tech savvy students and ask them how many programming languages they know, they will mention them but when you ask them what they have done with the languages, you will realise that they have not done anything,’’ he said.
READ ALSO Hate speech: Nigerians should take oath on speaking peaceful words – NOA
According to him, interested students should contact PI or register through bit.ly/techtiaryregistration for free.
He urged students to show interest in programming languages to be more relevant in this technology age.
He also appealed to volunteers to use the PI platform to train such students for the good of the Nigerian society.
Miss Adesola Aleshiloye, a second year student of health information management, Lagos State College of Health Technology, who is undergoing the training, told NAN that such a training would improve health information system in Nigeria.
Aleshiloye said that the country’s health system had poor digital information management.
“ We use papers and files to keep records which is disturbing for patients who walk from one place to the other.
“There is the need for a technology process whereby doctors can attend to patients even if they (patients) are not in hospitals.
“Doctors should be able to prescribe drugs for patients online; this are the things that technology can do for the country,’’ she said.