Here in Nigeria, one of the sectors which has suffered
the most resounding impact of the dreaded virus is the educational sector. COVID-19
has unprecedentedly changed the face of education in Nigeria and of things
returning to normal anytime soon, no one is even assured. Stakeholders in the
sector (learners, tutors, care givers, parents/guardians, proprietors,
researchers, investors as well as government) have had to deal squarely with
the realities before their faces, and all hands have been on deck to achieve the
safest way out for the sector. Let’s take a brief walk through as we examine
the negative impact of this outbreak.
As unfortunate as it may sound to you, dear reader, what you are reading in this piece is nothing short of the truth. The
pandemic has, without the least challenge, laid bare the ill-state of the
Nigerian educational sector. Under the watch of successive state and federal
governments, the sector has been poorly funded and lowly prioritized. The
natural outcome of this is poor output.
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Within the last one month, here in Nigeria, learning
has moved to the internet. As a result, learning has become a privilege, no
longer a right for the average Nigerian. Learning has become the sole activity
of the “financially comfortable” and of the rich in society. The average
Nigerian child remains at home and has no access to formal learning. This is a
major problem as majority of Nigerian families cannot afford the gadgets, data
and other required accessories for their children/wards to engage in online
learning. Power supply poses even a greater challenge for this process to be
successful. A good number of learners also may be battling learning
disabilities as they are accustomed to the classroom physical learning process
and have not been trained on effective utilization of the tools and procedures
for online learning. Truth be told, only about 20% of luxury private schools
that can afford this online learning process are up and running. Government
schools aren’t even a topic to be mentioned as regards online learning,
including higher institutions. Though unpleasant, it is the Nigerian reality. Another
serious challenge is the abrupt truncation of learning and of research being
carried out by learners.
Not only has learning been disrupted but major
examinations like the Common Entrance, WASSCE, NECO, GCE, including the
examinations of higher institutions have been suspended indefinitely. Prior to
the outbreak of the pandemic, this had never happened in the history of this
nation.
We also cannot ignore the fact that millions of
teachers have gone without salaries for months, being unable to fend for themselves
and for their families during the period of lockdown and the stay-at-home order
issued by the government. This is a very difficult time for the sector and may
prove to be even worse if, at the end of this pandemic, experienced and
dependable hands have left the system, having gone ahead to seek alternative
means of survival.
Furthermore, while the educational sector lacks basic
technological aids, decent infrastructure, funding for operations as well as research,
it continues to choke under the weight of the economic downturn also caused by
the pandemic. The revised national budget for the year 2020 records major cuts
to the tune of N320 billion, bringing the budget to N10.27 trillion as against
that of N10.59 trillion initially passed by the national assembly. The educational
sector bore a large piece of the cut and, as is expected, this does not
foretell a future any better than the available for education in Nigeria.
While some students are stuck in the educational
window and cannot graduate, others are disillusioned as it concerns the future
of education in Nigeria and the fulfillment of their dreams. When schools
eventually reopen, a lot of costly adjustments and modifications would be a
necessity for all stakeholders, a measure that comes across as unavoidable for
all.
While COVID-19 ravages the world at large and, as
well, takes its toll on the educational sector, the minds of the vast majority
of the world’s population naturally tilts towards the negative impact the virus
has wrought on our individual lives and collective modes of living, most
prominent of which is our freedom of interaction and socialization in diverse
contexts. While we all agree that a lot has changed (which we are not very
comfortable with) and mourn the demise of our absolute freedom and
smooth-sailing lives, can we all pause for a moment and look deeper to see the
wheat in the midst of the chaff? In life, drawing from historical happenings in
society, we’ve seen good come out of extreme unpleasant situations and we’ve
seen great tribulation engender massive positive change. People have made a
fortune over and over again from the ups and downs of life; ideas have been
born and given expression and standards have shifted as established methods and
systems said yes to new approaches and modifications, all in a bid to mitigate
challenges or to even get problems permanently solved. It hasn’t been and
wouldn’t be any different with this pandemic: the coronavirus disease 19.
Although the damage may be indeed colossal, it will nonetheless engender the
emergence of positive change.
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This is a call on the Nigerian people to look into the
educational sector, a precious opportunity for reforms and for various streams
of pedagogical diversification to be made. While the ills of the system have
been exposed, it is not just for the viewing. It is for the doing. Action must
be taken in all facets of the sector to put it where it ought to be in this
time and age. If the government and indeed all stakeholders deliberately move
to do the needful at this time, Nigeria would succeed in refurbishing and
handing herself a national treasure that will be celebrated for many years
ahead; one we will be grateful to have left for the intellectual benefit of our
children.
COVID-19 is here to push the educational sector higher
into technological advancement where primary school pupils can be exposed
to/and actually use the computer at an early age, prepared for higher fields of
endeavour and amazing careers. It is here to make virtual learning work.
Honestly, not all lectures in higher institutions must hold in a building. The
world is far gone past that point, and it is high time we also moved here in
Nigeria. The virus is here to decongest our lecture halls and conference rooms
that aren’t even large enough to comfortably host the conferences for which
they were originally intended. It is here to change the face of General Studies
(GST or GNS) courses in Nigerian universities and to put an end to classes
being comparable to the typical congested Nigerian maximum security prisons.
A vast majority of Nigerian parents/guardians who
earlier did not subscribe to virtual learning or any Information Technology
(IT) related solution for learning have been made to accept I.T. as the way
out. People are becoming more aware of the opportunities for better education
which the internet offers us. More people have been exposed to the truth that
people can stay at home almost all through student-time and actually finish
courses and be certified without any/or much physical meetings.
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The hygiene level in schools is another shameful topic.
School accommodation has become halls of shame. Typically seen as general
property, students tend to only their own spaces. General areas like common
rooms, toilets and bathrooms are usually not places to visit. Likewise, rooms
are usually full above capacity with additional occupants squatting. If we all
must stay healthy, all of this would have to change now that life has taken a
different turn. The virus has increased consciousness of personal and
environmental hygiene, and as time passes, we hope to see changes made as we
move to adjust to living safe with the virus around.
While we make necessary moves to improve the
educational sector, we can only hope that with the discovery of a vaccine
(which is still not certain), caution is not thrown to the wind and we don’t
return to business as usual, as is typical of the vast majority of groups in
this part of the world.