This was the resolution at this month’s edition of EdTech Mondays; an initiative of Mastercard Foundation in partnership with CcHub Limited.
The virtual roundtable featured panelists such as co-founder/strategy and Head, Maevis Computer Limited, Chizaram Ucheaga, a certified English teacher from Lagos State, Bisayo Adewole, and moderated by Joyce Daniel, a social engineering practitioner.
Speaking at the programme titled: ‘Education in the pandemic era: The role of technology,’ Ucheaga emphasised the need for government at all levels and relevant stakeholders to embrace more inclusive learning to create a robust and well-rounded educational system.
He noted that with the shift to infrastructure-based technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, government should continue leveraging on technology to reinvent the nation’s education system.
According to him, the responsibility lies on all stakeholders, particularly the government, to design a curriculum that addresses every student’s needs irrespective of their challenge or status.
“During the pandemic, education stakeholders launched online radio initiatives to ensure that students continued to learn. As a result, the government now appreciates how technology is being used in driving learning. They have then launched initiatives such as EdoBest and Kwara-learn in partnership with international organisations to deliver learning to students,” he said.
He further stated that stakeholders must come to terms with the reality that education or learning is fast moving away from the conventional approach of the physical classroom structure to virtual classroom, clamouring for the need to build holistic education solutions that would serve students depending on their needs.
“A practical example is an export university where people are allowed to take advanced degrees purely online and largely targeted at African countries. What they do is link industry needs to what students need to learn such that when they graduate, they can get ready jobs. Government need to start planning right from basic, primary, secondary, and tertiary education to make sure that they are doing similar mapping so that when students graduate, they would be well qualified to take up available jobs,” he added.
Also speaking, Bisayo Adewole, an EdTech teacher from Akoko High School, Lagos, noted that people’s minds were open to the benefits of technology in driving learning despite the pandemic. She, however, stated that more still needs to be done to ensure that both teachers and students have access to digital tools and training to achieve optimal learning outcomes.
“When using technology-driven platforms like Microsoft Teams, the students, particularly those from low-income homes, do not have access to these digital tools. This then means that the purpose of creating the class is defeated because the students cannot participate in the class due to a lack of access to digital tools”, Adewole said.
She further explained that with learning gravitating towards online in the future, funding might no longer be considered a serious challenge.
