The Tablet of Knowledge popularly referred to as OPON IMO has significantly contributed to the growth as well as quality of Education in Osun State.
Aside its huge benefits, it has also enhanced the development of the Young Generation in ensuring that they get exposed to e-learning at a very important time in their education.
According to the State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, the gadget which is arguably the first of its kind in the continent of Africa has in a great deal complemented the present administration’s vision for education.
She said although the world has been abreast of ICT through the use of tools like the I-pad, Laptop and other computer hardware in education, the creativity behind OPON-IMO makes it first among equals.
This is coming as managers of the scheme will this week begin the distribution of devices to students in their final year, in preparation for their WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori explained that with 450,000 students benefitting from the initiative since 2013 when it was officially launched, it has afforded high school students in Grade Levels 10, 11 and 12 the opportunity to have access to all needed materials in a single tablet for optimum performance in both internal and external examinations.
A parent, Chief Ezekiel attested to the fact that since OPON-IMO was distributed to students, a veritable number of students have been able to confront external examinations especially WASSCE.
Chief Ezekiel noted that since the tool has been put to use by students, it has made parents heave a sigh of relief in committing much more financial resources to buying essential textbooks for their children to let them pass examinations.
His words “For me as a parent, the OPON-IMO Tablet has been a blessing to us. Aside enhancing their performance in WAEC, it has also provided an opportunity to make buying of textbooks for them needless as all what they need is in the gadget. Before, we had bought textbooks of over N50,000 for them from SS1 to SS3. And even with the current harsh economy, it is even hard to eat three square meals per day, so we are grateful to the government.”
Okoli Goodness, a student of Osogbo High School observed that with the e-learning device, she has been able to study hard and revise their lessons in school.
According to her “Before I got this, I had previously longed to verify what we were taught in school with textbooks but I was unable. But since I have been able to start using OPON IMO, it has afforded me the opportunity to learn more and revise our lessons.”
“I can also view my former class’s textbooks there-in at my own leisure time. I think the government has done a great deal by providing OPON-IMO for students like me who do not have money to buy all the textbooks needed for exams, with this the government has done well.”
Aside the students that have benefitted from the Tablet of Knowledge, it has also provided a platform for over 50 jobs at the project office and 3,000 indirect jobs to be created.
OPON-IMO has given the state chief executive, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola international accolades like Africa’s Most Innovative Telecom Product of the Year by the NTDA as well as the 2013 Wise Award in Sri-Lanka.
The conviction of those who spoke to our correspondent is that OPON-IMO has ‘indeed empowered minds and enriched lives’.
The tablet among other features has e-library, virtual classroom, and an integrated test zone.
The virtual classroom category contains 63 e-books covering 17 academic subjects for examinations conducted by WAEC, NECO and JAMB as well as non-academic life-enriching subjects such as History of The Yoruba, Sexuality Education, Civic Education, Ifa on ethics and morals, enterprise education, hints and tips on passing SSCE and ‘How to live a Healthy and Happy life’.
This section also contains an average of 16 chapters per subject and 823 chapters in all, with about 900 minutes or 15 hours of audio voiceovers.
In the integrated test zone of the device, there are more than 40,000 JAMB and WAEC practice questions and answers dating back to more than 20 years.
It also contains mock tests in more than 51 subject areas, which approximates to 1,220 chapters, with roughly 29,000 questions referencing about 825 images.
