By Felix Khanoba
The American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, says it has put mechanisms in place to begin new degree programmes in the areas of Public Health and Data Sciences.
President of the University, Margee Ensign, who disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Abuja, said the global outbreak of COVID-19, prompted the decision of the institution to focus more on public health in order to prevent the spread of diseases.
She said: “We are looking at some health related programmes. I think one of the most important things we learnt from this pandemic was the importance of public health, to make sure we prevent things like this and educate people. It is better we prevent diseases rather than just responding to it and that has to do with public health.
“Coming back to Nigeria, I’m really excited about doing things in data analytics and data science and this is a field that everybody needs.”
On the troubling number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, which has been put between 10 million to 14 million, the United States-born renowned academic said AUN was able to deploy technology to successfully tackle the problem in some communities through one of its programmes.
“The COVID period thought us we can do a lot with technology as we ever imagined, whether you are in Nigeria, whether you are in US or wherever you are, that education can continue and I think we should think about those issues as we look at some of the challenges in your country, with out-of-school children; with children in conflict situation, there is a great deal we can do with technology, not just the high-tech but technology with radio and other mechanisms…..
“We have solutions for those kids and no society can afford to have that number of children out of school, so I hope that in AUN we can expand our work in that area of tele-project technology enhanced learning for all,” Margee said.
She said during regular attacks by insurgents in Adamawa State a few years ago, AUN “used radio and computer tablets to reach over 30,000 kids who were not in school in our community, we planned to expand those projects not just in our community but in the region.”
