In a bid to ensure that schools in Nigeria become prepared for any future pandemics, experts in the educational sector have called for the development of a national policy framework.
The experts who spoke at the inaugural session of a four-part virtual series titled ‘Disruption &Innovation – Reshaping Education in Africa Post COVID-19’ said that governments across the African continent must have a policy in place to plan for any future pandemic and on the disruption of educational activities.
They also called on African leaders to build the capacity of teachers on ICT and the deployment of such technologies.
“We need to have a policy plan for pandemics and framework both at the national and subnational levels that allow players to be innovative,” said Charles Bassey- Eyo, cofounder, Axiom Learning Solutions.
“We need the right leadership and policy that create preparedness for pandemic,” Bassey –Eyo said.
He called on African leaders to provide critical infrastructures for the deployment of e-learning processes across the continent, noting that the world is in an era of disruptions.
Also speaking, Muhammed Junaid, a professor and former executive secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, said that Nigeria is currently in an educational crisis that requires a new kind of policy that can address the crisis.
“The challenges point to adopting the open and distance learning education with particular emphasis on technology,” said Junaid who is also chairman of Axiom Learning Solutions Academic Board.
“What we are missing in Nigeria is that we are not addressing the capacity of teachers. We need to look inward to see where the weaknesses are, which for me is the capacity of teachers,” he added.
He called for the training of teachers in the country on ICT and its deployment while giving an example of how Sierra-Leone trained its teachers on technology during the Ebola epidemic.
Rebecca Stromeyer, founder and CEO of eLearning Africa, urged African leaders to lead in creating a post-pandemic emergency preparedness.
Stromeyer called on governments across the continent to learn to find solutions to its educational problems at the grass root and build on it.
She recommended the creation of a national task force to include experts across the educational sector to foster e-learning.
Speaking on what Lagos – Nigeria’s commercial centre- is currently doing to ensure continuous learning in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, Folasade Adefisayo, Commissioner for Education, said the state has partnered with some radio and Tv stations to provide learning programmes for students.
She noted that the state adopted the offline strategy after considering the social-economic status of students in the school and infrastructural challenges in the ecosystem.
Represented by Abosede Adelaja, permanent secretary of the state’s ministry of education, Adefisayo sought more collaboration with the private sector to further expand the programme and extend it to pupils in the state.
She noted that the state does not currently have a policy plan in place for pandemic preparedness but will be developing one post-COVID-19.
