The lockdown revealed the deep inequities across the world in the way we have been addressing education. This has created an opportunity for us to resolve the gaps and ensure that all of our children are carried along in our desire for them to have quality education.
The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. – B.B. King.
At the beginning of 2020, there were children in schools all across the world. Then at the end of the first quarter, over one billion learners — more than 90 per cent of the world’s students — became limited to their homes because of the COVID-19 spreading across the globe.
The pandemic is adding to the ceaseless obstacles challenging students in their desire for quality education and prosperous lives.
It is not a mystery that a majority of the schools across Nigeria and Africa were, for the most part, under-resourced and underfunded, especially in the area of the adoption of technology, regardless of the digital world that we live in. When the word ‘school’ is uttered, the image evoked is that of a teacher in front of a whiteboard or chalkboard speaking to a room of students who are seated with notebooks and pens or pencils in front of them. As stated above, this unchanging method of education, in the current situation across the world, has been uncovered to be lacking in the education of students in the 21st century, as everyone is now scrambling to get students online.
We could try a hybrid learning model that combines some form of hands-on learning and technology, and which balances between self-learning and teacher-led learning, alongside virtual learning and team learning, with a bunch of peers figuring out flexible schedules with distinctive learning styles.
Before COVID-19 burst on the scene, education essentially happened within school buildings, but now we are all realising that learning can and should be happening everywhere and anywhere. Learning does not have to be constrained within a brick-and-mortar building, and it can take many shapes and forms. As we are all saying now, this is the new normal and my thoughts are that this is a great opportunity to bring about the needed disruption to our education system.
Now is the time to discuss opportunities to solutions for students in our semi-quarantine state.
We could try a hybrid learning model that combines some form of hands-on learning and technology, and which balances between self-learning and teacher-led learning, alongside virtual learning and team learning, with a bunch of peers figuring out flexible schedules with distinctive learning styles.
From my experience as a parent, an educator and currently a student, I have learnt that the student’s self-sufficiency and time management boosts his/her comprehension in learning. It is something that we should appreciate and continue to push for.
My hope is that instead of bemoaning the changes and the disruption to our daily lives, we take advantage and utilise the potential that the pandemic has accorded education.
During the lockdown, students living in marginalised areas were able to tune into radio programmes provided by Lagos State and peer coach one another. Students who had no access to learning earlier then had access to good teachers providing great content across various subjects. These teachers have become facilitators, instead of being sages in physical buildings; they are using technology and digital platforms.
I have also been observing how suddenly education has come to the front stage all across the world, whereby many are talking about learning methods; teachers and students’ needs, etc. A year ago, if one skimmed through the headlines or the insides of newspapers, there was hardly mention of anything to do with education; and if there was, it was short articles or special reports. Juxtapose that situation with what is currently taking place now, as there are constant discussions around the reopening of schools, the virtues or drawbacks of virtual learning, what interventions will suit schools, etc.
The lockdown revealed the deep inequities across the world in the way we have been addressing education. This has created an opportunity for us to resolve the gaps and ensure that all of our children are carried along in our desire for them to have quality education. My hope is that instead of bemoaning the changes and the disruption to our daily lives, we take advantage and utilise the potential that the pandemic has accorded education.
Adetola Salau, Carismalife4U@gmail.com, an advocate of STEM education, public speaker, author, and social entrepreneur, is passionate about education reform.
