Nigerians in diaspora create new demand, income for teachers

In a world where technology is playing a major role in day-to-day interactions, leveraging the same to leapfrog limitations is on the rise with smart teachers jumping on the bandwagon to, among other things, keep pace with contemporary trends, as well as shore up extra income amid perennial poor pay. IYABO LAWAL writes that embracing technology is simply a sine qua non for any teacher who wants to be up-to-date, and desirous of maximising other streams of income. Beyond having adequate knowledge of pedagogy and a life-long learning mindset, some stakeholders maintain that being a modern teacher in Nigeria entails embracing change and finding creative ways to connect with students in multiple learning environments. But the growing lucre for well-paid online teaching, some say could lead to a shortage of qualified teachers in schools, especially in a system where students rely on in-person instructions.

“Good job, Alex!” said Amara Kanu, a primary school teacher in Lagos State. Grinning, she added as she concluded an online private lesson with a pupil: “I’m glad to see the progress that you have made so far, especially in your mathematics.”

For a while, Alex struggled with mathematics, but he appeared to have improved since his parents afforded him private online lessons, usually via WhatsApp, or Zoom. Each session is often an hour long.

“I charge N10,000 per hour,” Miss Kanu revealed. “However, since he seems to have a phobia for mathematics, I usually use an additional 30 minutes ahead of each session to warm Alex up. With that approach, he has made significant progress.”

In four weeks, Amara makes N120,000 per pupil from her legion of clients, and she attends to each of them thrice a week.
By engaging 10 pupils in private lessons, for instance, Amara earns N1.2 million a month, which more than quadruples her meagre monthly salary in a private school.

Over the years, Sunday Udoh has excelled as an online private tutor, effectively using WhatsApp voice notes, videos, and images to teach his pupils.

His fees vary according to the needs of his students, and subjects. Apart from live sessions, he makes tailored videos and audio recordings for each of them.

Udoh’s basic fee for a live session is N15,000, and N10,000 for recorded tailored lessons per hour.
Josephine Ehikhamen is a vivacious teacher, and engaging in private lessons online has become her stronghold.

The Lagos-based teacher whose clients transcend her geographical location, teaches students in far-flung parts of the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries straddling America and Europe. They are mostly Nigerians in the Diaspora.

“This teacher’s reward is online,” said Ehikhamen. “I can’t deny making good money with these virtual classes.”

She continued: “No. I’m not going to tell you how much I make,” was Ehikhamen’s response after an inquiry regarding her monthly haul, and charges, especially for her overseas students.
Emmanuel Akpan, who charges N20,000 per hour teaches mathematics and physics online, and he has 10-year experience in this endeavour.

“I am a tutor whose core strengths and skills are framed around advanced mathematics, physics, SQL, Python programming language, Ms-Excel, and data science,” he explained with glee.

Another teacher, Uloma Enebeli, who teaches Igbo and moral education with 20 years’ experience described herself as “a well-versed, professional tutor with top-notch delivery skills, making every session for the learner interactive, yet educative.”
Like Enebeli, who charges N10,000 per hour, Wilfred Inyang teaches mathematics and further mathematics. He also charges N10,000 per student for an online class and has been doing it for over five years.

“I am a certified Cambridge tutor, who teaches mathematics and additional mathematics. I have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and a master’s degree (in view). I am a Cambridge tutor certified in teaching both mathematics and additional mathematics. I currently work in an international school in Abuja.”

The abridged scenario above illustrates the transformative state of teaching and learning in Nigeria, which is embracing fastidiously, mobile and modern technologies.
Even though teaching remains one of human’s oldest professions, Nigerian teachers are as poorly paid as labourers, if not worse in most cases. Consequently, they die in instalments as they labour day and night to raise leaders of tomorrow. They have little or nothing to show for their toil.

Peeved by the way that teachers are treated in society, especially the poor reward system that is in place, most parents do anything, and everything to dissuade their children and wards from pursuing a career in teaching.

With teaching considered the bedrock of development and innovation, teachers remain drivers and game-changers. Expectedly, the forward-looking ones among them, who embrace modern mobile technologies, and adapt them to teaching methods are smiling to the banks.
As days pass by, several Nigerian teachers are looking up to new opportunities that lie ahead online as they shrug off the shackles of waiting to reach heaven before getting their much-talked-about rewards in line with the time-worn cliché of teachers’ rewards being in heaven

Recent checks by The Guardian showed that teachers in Africa’s most populous nation have become more inventive and productive as they flock online to reap fruits, whose seeds were long-sown within the four walls of the classroom.

For those who are keeping pace with contemporary realities, things are now different with the inventive, disruptive, and ever-ubiquitous Internet-enabled mobile technologies. They are not only imparting knowledge but also deploying their skills and digital know-how to benefit their students, often during private lessons.

Nigerian teachers’ incursion into the world of online private lessons has recorded phenomenal results as gleaned from the material successes accounted for by the hitherto derided, professionals, who often earn so little despite giving so much.

From reports and anecdotes, enterprising teachers who take up private gigs, lessons, or tutorial classes are making more than twice their monthly salaries. For those whose clientele is made up of Nigerians in the Diaspora, the financial rewards are even way higher.

The agility of today’s teachers, coupled with the proliferation of mobile technology, has also improved education access for Nigerian students, who would otherwise be at the bottom of an academic spectrum that keeps widening daily. The disparity has drastically reduced- thanks to Nigerian teachers bracing the odds and embracing new technologies to meet modern demands.

Once upon poor salaries and inadequate infrastructure
Until now, many Nigerian teachers have been beset by irregular and poor salaries, poor teaching environments, including overcrowded classrooms for public schools, and a chronic dearth of students’ learning resources.

In some cases, teachers often work longer hours, but without overtime allowances for several months. Several of them are ill-equipped, lack confidence, and are often the butt of jokes by students and parents.

With the proliferation of digital devices, not a few scholars are scratching their heads, wondering how educators trained in analogue fashion would be able to produce digitally inclined graduates.
Indeed, one of the glaring challenges faced by the sector, is how students trained by “digital immigrants,” with analogue methods will teach “digital natives” (students who are conversant with modern mobile technologies) to meet the challenges of the 21st Century and beyond.

Education expert, Tosin Akinduro, said teaching is seen as a mere activity, occupation, and vocation for “academic losers,” adding that the teaching profession is plagued by low wages, poor motivation, and welfare, among others.

Akinduro added: “Some people even refer to teachers as substitutes on the bench of life, who are left with no option but to proceed and get employed in the teaching profession. It is worrisome in Nigeria that the teaching profession has moved from the foreground to the background.

Qualities of 21st Century teachers
Seasoned educationists, Dr John Agu and Patrick Sunday underscored the importance of good and modern teachers in the education value chain.
According to them, education is critical to all elements of a person’s life, adding that without teachers, the process of learning and teaching would come to a halt.

“It is not difficult to be a teacher, but it is far more difficult to become a competent one because there are numerous duties for a qualified teacher to perform.”

The scholars opined that there are many characteristics that qualified teachers in the 21st Century must possess, just as they emphasised the need for teachers to have significantly broad knowledge in addition to their specialisation expertise.

The duo maintained that qualified teachers in the 21st century must keep themselves up-to-date with new concepts and knowledge. They should also continue to contribute to their professional development by attending short-term courses, workshops, seminars, and educational conferences, while in service.
The Maltina Teacher of the Year 2020, and an English language teacher at Concordia College Yola, Adamawa State, Oluwabunmi Anani, said that inclusion, personalised instruction, differentiation, equity, sustainability, global citizenship, and economic empowerment, among others, characterise a 21st-century teacher.

To drive these notions more forcibly, Anani said that the 21st-century teacher must, of necessity, embrace technology.

“Being a teacher in the 21st Century is the best thing any tutor could wish for. This is the age when adaptability is the topmost skill anyone could have. Interesting changes are happening, and growth is unpredictably taking place. The more information you have, the more skilful you are at using it, the better you become. So, the success of a teacher is hinged on the amount of information that he or she has access to, and how much is used to better his/her lot.

For a top 10 finalist in the Global Teacher Prize, Olasunkanmi Opeifa, a successful teacher is not just tech-savvy, but one who can adjust to changing innovations in the tech world to make education available and less stressful to his employer or parent clients.

On her part, the Founder of A-Cloud Consult, an online tutoring academy, and winner of the Maltina Teacher of the Year 2019 for Ogun State, Lebura Olawale, noted that 21st Century teachers have access to digital tools that enhance learning and engagement in addition to their capacity to tailor their lessons to meet the diverse needs of students, be it in the classroom, or at home.
Overall, Olawale noted that being a 21st-century teacher in Nigeria means embracing change, leveraging technology, and finding creative ways to connect with students, regardless of the learning environment.
Generally speaking, teacher trainers are emphatic that qualified teachers should have knowledge of technology and understand how to operate Internet-enabled devices, which are essential at this time.
More importantly, they emphasise the need to have adequate knowledge of pedagogy and a lifelong learning mindset, stressing that to become better educators, teachers need to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills and be prepared to learn for the rest of their lives.

Impact on teaching, learning outcomes
Online learning, a dynamic educational paradigm, encompasses using electronic technologies and digital resources to disseminate knowledge, and reshaping the traditional educational landscape. It promises to surmount geographical constraints, rendering learning accessible, flexible, and captivating.

In Nigeria, the embracement of e-learning is in its embryonic phase but exhibits a persistent ascent. Numerous catalysts have propelled this transformation. The proliferation of affordable digital devices and increased Internet accessibility have also democratised education, narrowing the chasm that once separated learners from quality educational resources.

These advancements have, in turn, unleashed many opportunities for students nationwide, transcending the limitations of physical classroom walls. The global educational environment is evolving at an unprecedented pace, necessitating the adaptation to new learning modalities. E-learning equips students with the skills and knowledge required to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The impact of online learning on education is multifaceted and has yielded “positive and transformative results, “including expanding access to education, breaking down geographical barriers, and improving teachers’ skills. This has resulted in greater inclusivity and equity in education, enabling more people to access knowledge and skills that were previously out of reach.

Furthermore, the flexibility of online learning has empowered learners to engage with educational content at their own pace and on their schedule. Additionally, teachers are also able to track students’ progress more effectively and tailor instruction to individual needs, leading to more personalised and effective teaching approaches.

The continued evolution of online learning holds immense promise for shaping a more accessible, adaptive, and effective educational landscape. The impact of online learning on education is substantial and far-reaching even as it has transformed how people access knowledge and skills, offering unprecedented flexibility and accessibility.
Most importantly, online learning has made education more inclusive, allowing individuals from diverse backgrounds and locations to pursue their academic and professional goals.

Our experiences, by teachers
Lebura, who recently resigned from one of the eyebrow schools in Lagos, after almost two decades to become an online tutor, described the experience as exciting, as it comes with growth.
According to her, the journey started during the COVID-19 scourge when most schools transitioned online to continue learning.

“After COVID-19, the hybrid learning continued as we were still using all the online tools, which for me, helped a lot because even when COVID-19 ended, I was still intentional about using online resources.

“In 2021, a parent in my school, who saw me online during COVID-19 reached out to me and said that she had a nephew in the United Kingdom, who was struggling with mathematics. Of course, reaching out to me because she saw how I was able to engage her wards and trusted that I would do a good job. That was how I started, and from there onwards, I started getting referrals. That was how my online journey started.”

Asked how she is faring after quitting her well-paid job for uncertainty, Lebura said she currently has about 30 students that she teaches directly, and supervises over 100 others from the various consultants that she works with.

“I also have my online academy, which I registered for. So, if I put all that together, I would say that I have over 100 to 150 students under me currently as an online teacher, but the ones I teach directly, weekly, are about 30,” she stated.

Lebura explained further: “The convenience and flexibility that doing this provides is amazing. I don’t have to wake up so early because while doing the physical, I had to leave my house as early as 5:30 am daily, and the earliest closing time is 4.30 pm. When you check the work hours, if you are a very good educator, you would prefer the online job because you’ll make more money.

“If you are paid N600,000 in a regular school every month and you do nine hours per day, in a week it is 45 hours and for four weeks, it is 180 hours. If you divide the salary by the number of hours, it is less than N3,500 per hour.

“If you are working online as an educator, and very good at what you do, you would make a minimum of N5,000 per hour, from the comfort of your home or anywhere that you are. Mind you, you are not facing traffic, and you have time to do a lot of other things for yourself. Realistically, there’s a lot you can do for yourself; you can multitask; it’s comfortable, and the flexibility and convenience are next to none.  I’ve seen a lot of educators in recent times who have had to quit their jobs because they are excellent online and are doing well.

“The challenge is how many schools can pay N600,000 for you to even make N3,500 per hour?  And one can easily make more than this online while not considering transportation costs, but all you worry about is data, and with N500, you can get data that can take you for a four-hour online class. If you are using a power-generating set, and have a good laptop, it would take four hours before the battery gets fully discharged after charging it for one or two hours. So, when you look at the cost, you would agree that online is super amazing, though it cannot replace physical school,” Lebura stated.

Working for an Edtech firm as a virtual teacher, Rachel Abaire, in her first six months made an extra N300,000. “It was quite profitable for me, to be honest,” she stated.
Her colleague, simply identified only as Adebayo, described online tutoring as “a fantastic experience,” after earning about N7,000 per hour.

“Sometimes, I would do about 12 to 15 classes per week, making between N84,000 and N105,000 extra weekly, by just being on my laptop, teaching the same thing that I taught in the classroom at school,” Adebayo stated.

“Overall, I can boldly say that I’ve made way more than N1 million extra income working on Gradely.”

Anani, on her part, noted that with online teaching, one can be emotionally intelligent, “knowing that the child on the other side is a customer and I cannot shout at him or her, come late or unprepared online. There is always the urge to make the conditions safe for my onsite students.”

Besides leveraging technology and exposing students to authentic materials, virtual exchanges, and tours, a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, co-teaching practices, and extracurricular exposures are part of experiences, which Anani cherishes.

For Opeifa, who trains teachers to maximise their skills, especially adopting technology to make their work better, teaching online requires special skills.

“Just as pedagogies make some teachers stand out in the traditional classroom, there are unique skills that are personal, process-based, professional and product-based that teachers who are into online teaching must have to succeed. So, this is the skill I instil into teachers alongside regular training for effective delivery in regular classrooms.

“Furthermore, curriculum development and the need to foster collaboration cannot be overemphasised, hence, I consult for education-based institutions on how to make this their forte and get the attention of customers and optimal result delivery,” Opeifa said.

Challenges of online teaching
However, some stakeholders argue that while online teaching has its advantages, it cannot fully replace the value of in-person interactions. They noted that relationships built in the classroom are irreplaceable and play a crucial role in students’ development.

Besides, they also point out that while online platforms offer lucrative opportunities, there’s a risk that a significant number of educators might leave traditional teaching roles for these positions, which could lead to a shortage of qualified teachers in schools, especially in a system where students rely on in-person instruction.

Lebura, on her part, listed challenges posed by online teaching to include poor network, cost of getting a good laptop, sourcing for materials, and mindset shift.

To succeed as an online educator, she said the tutor must be connected to at least two mobile telecommunications networks and a very good laptop, which costs a lot.

“If you have a student from the United States, Canada, or Australia, for instance, you need to understand their curriculum to know the requirements and the examination bodies they are working with. Getting these resources is not cheap, these are some of the challenges that come with online teaching. But in the long run, one will get the money back.”

Stakeholders fear brain drain may hit sub-sector
With increasing emancipation from the routine of overloaded and often under-appreciated work in schools, a palpable fear is assailing the minds of stakeholders.

“Will brain drain not take away quality teachers from the classroom to the tech room? Will more teachers not resign from their schools to take up online teaching where they earn more and network more? Will this not hurt our education system? They ask.

An educationist, Joel Adenaike, noted that most schools take their teachers for granted, as they see them as a means to an end, and not an end by themselves.
Besides, he pointed out that some schools do not provide an enabling environment for their teachers to grow, upskill, and thrive professionally.

“Why would you expect a teacher, who has single-handedly invested in his tech skills to stay with a school that is not ready to go tech? Better still, should a teacher stay financially handicapped in a school when the said tutor can conveniently increase his or her earning power just a click away, and from the comfort of his house?

A retired principal, Dr Lade Ogunbote, wondered why a teacher with an immensely sought-after potential should be under-utilised when he is capable of delivering extra value.

Ogunbote noted that the search for impact, validation, growth, flexibility, professional development, connection, maximised potential, economic returns, and fulfilment, is at the root of teachers’ opting out of the physical classroom for online classes.

She stated that schools could create a win-win deal with their teachers physically, infrastructure-wise, professionally, psychologically, and financially, while also diversifying and providing a platform for online tutoring.

Lebura also advised teachers to invest more in themselves to be able to cope with current trends.
She emphasised continuous learning and research to excel in the new task.