Childhood education is critical because it lays the foundation for future achievements in learning, character and personality. It is against this backdrop that Ethan & Harriet, designers and manufacturers of children’s educational toys are championing the use of toys to effectively transmit Nigeria’s early child-centered learning, history and heritage to children through play.
Olubunmi Williams, Founder/CEO of Ethan & Harriet in a chat with BusinessDay said the idea behind the educational toys in learning is to bridge the gap noticed by educating children to enhance their knowledge about Nigeria.
Williams observed that there is a visible disconnect between Nigerian children and their heritage and the lack of knowledge as it pertains to our history is not being passed on to the children.
“Our toys are tools that promote Nigerian knowledge. As an example: our flagship toy is the Lift and Learn Nigerian Map Puzzle – a game that shows all the Nigerian states, capitals, motto, number of local government areas in each state and land size per state. The puzzle imparts this knowledge to adults and children in a fun and exciting way not considered as conventional education.”
She added “the responsibility to reinforce our heritage is a joint effort – from parents to schools to the government and beyond we collectively need to address this concern which has been chipping away at the fabric of our history. We have found out that children are better equipped these days to speak about non-Nigerian history. While we encourage a global historical perspective we are staunch believers that it shouldn’t be to the detriment of our rich heritage.”
She intends to work with the government across the three tiers (Federal, State and Local), schools, NGOs and parents to engage children to adopt these learning methods through play to restore the knowledge that comes with our rich heritage.
Muyiwa Bamgbose, CEO Educational Advancement Centre said “everything has changed, banking, medicine, and farming. Each of these sectors is massively deploying technology; however, education is not changing. Children today are to be educated to be global citizens. Today’s children are born digital natives and technology is in their DNA, so to speak. The era of teacher centered-learning is gone. Children should be taught to learn by themselves. The tools of learning have changed, teachers are only facilitators.”
Experts say technology is neutral, what each nation or individual makes of it would be a question choice. However, each nation is best served by technology when it is deployed in the best interest of the nation’s overall wellbeing. An understanding of history they say is critical and technology could make this fun.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
