The Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsinma, in collaboration with UNICEF, Kano Field Office, is targeting to train no fewer than 20,000 youths across the state on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Halilu Ahmed, UNICEF’s focal person at the college, disclosed this in Katsina on Monday, at a training for 700 lecturers, teachers and facilitators on adoption of AI in learning and teaching.

According to Mr Ahmed, the aim of the training on AI is for lecturers, teachers and facilitators to be equipped and step it down to their students across various schools in the state.

He explained that already, they have trained some coordinators who will carry out the training for the youths, including out-of-school children.

“There are 10 technical schemes that were also trained in Kano on this programme, to oversee the training for the youths across various centres,” he said.

According to him, each of the trained lecturers and teachers is expected to train and monitor at least 40 participants, ensuring they receive a certificate upon completion.

Isma’il Bello, one of the facilitators and a technical member on the generative artificial intelligence state team, said the training was important.

“You know, there is this development of artificial intelligence, and people are actually taking advantage of artificial intelligence to do all stuff.

“These courses were mounted to ensure that people get to use AI in the right way, especially the young ones. This is the right time to give them the knowledge, so that they don’t misuse it.

“If we allow our society to use the technology without being guided, we’re actually going to face trouble in the future,” Mr Bello said.

He added that about 200 lecturers from tertiary institutions were trained, and now they have trained 300 teachers from secondary schools.

Mr Bello noted that there were other trainees currently receiving training in some CBT centres to handle out-of-school children.

“You see, the number we are training is actually going to be somewhere around 700 altogether, who are also expected to train about 20,000 youths.

“There are three courses that every participant in the training is expected to take, especially generative AI foundation, generative AI medium, and the generative AI master.

“Each of these trainees, after successfully completing a training, will earn a certificate, which is recognised worldwide by Microsoft Corporation, and the certificate is issued by the Federal Ministry of Education.”

One of the participants, Ibrahim Jabir, a guardian and counselling master at GGSS Tsagero, said he had learned a lot from the training, which he did not know before now.

“Now I’m very familiar with them, honestly. I think it has been very helpful. And Insha Allah, we’re hoping to integrate what we learned here into our various schools.

“It’s going to simplify things for us and make things different, especially from the lesson plan, the way we administer our lessons, and the way we handle our students; this time, it is going to be different.”