THE FUTURE OF WORK: TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA, In education, teaching is the concerted sharing of knowledge and experience, which is usually organized within a discipline and, more generally, the provision of stimulus to the psychological and intellectual growth of a person by another person or artifact. In the early days’ education was associated with verbal, oral or physical classroom learning. Not until recently, technology has gradually begun to seep into the walls of the classroom and thereby providing an effective tool to improve learning especially among young minds.
A typical classroom found in rural areas (source: Guardian Nigeria).
There has been challenges of provision of affordable and accessible means of education in Nigeria, the cost of education rising every day, parents are being forced to compromise the quality of education. Because the cheaper schools are mostly public schools which lack basic infrastructure like buildings, libraries, teaching aids and necessary human resources. No proper collection of data or data base for children in school. This especially in public schools is lacking it is only data that have been sourced from examination bodies like WAEC and NECO the percentage of failure is slowly on the rise indicating the diminishing of the quality in education.
Estimated Out‐of‐school children Population in States in Nigeria (MICS5, 2017)
Federal Capital Territory Adamawa Kebbi Yobe Zamfara Sokoto Katsina Kano Jigawa Nassarawa Plateau Kogi Kaduna Ebonyi Enugu Edo Delta Gombe Bauchi Anambra Oyo Osun Ekiti Ondo Ogun Niger Lagos Kwara Taraba Cross River Benue Bayelsa Rivers Imo Akwa Ibom Abia Borno
0
200000
400000
600000
Value
Source: Nigerian Bureau for Statistics (NBS)
800000
1000000
1200000
1400000
According to UNICEF, even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school. Only 61 percent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.
SOURCE: UNICEF
To improve human capital, the quality of education and nutrition of the Nigerian child should be totally x-rayed. In the predominantly Muslim north of the country where child begging is practiced, illiteracy is highest because of the amount of out of school children. Parents in the north due to poverty have been forced to send them to alma Jiri schools, where only Islamic education is taught and most of the children are sent back on the streets to beg for alms by their instructors and also insurgency and insecurity have also destroyed their schools. In the southern part of the country where basic education is expensive, the amount of out-of-school children is on the rise, this leads to children hawking food and commodities to be able to raise funds to attend school,
Sustainable Solutions Provided by Technology in Improving Education
Classroom in Nigeria where technology is employed (source: voice of Nigeria).
Education in Nigeria is a very pivotal arm of the future of the nation, it illuminates the mind of young people by exposing them to new forms of knowledge aimed at improving their selves and their societies. Without proper education young people will be unemployable and this will lead them into crimes like cybercrimes, fraud, robbery and kidnapping, violence and thuggery. Data collection Technology should be employed where by the country can make use of a central database connected to all learning institutions in the country and is managed by the ministry of education. This database can be used to monitor the quality of education provided in their schools by accessing the student based on their academic records. This database can also check if policies by the government in improving education are actually working. The collection of data can also help the government push in the desirable funds needed to improve the sector. The government should encourage the use of digital and electronic teaching aids to help make students familiar with this present technology and be able to positively make use of them.
Information communication technology as a topic should be taught as core in educational institutions to make young students get understanding on how technology is an invaluable tool in this dispensation.
Nigerian girls learning to code (Pearls Africa girls summer coding camp)
ICT Hubs can be established both by the government and private bodies or agencies to help provide technological skills at affordable costs to young minds who are willing to become tech specialists. Hackathons and competitors can be organized for young children to improve their learning of technology Solar powered computers could be distributed to areas where there is constant power cut to enable student catch up with emerging trends. Online learning using videos, virtual classrooms, educational apps like Edx and computer based testing should be a part of the teaching standards because it provides easy and proper learning by integrating the various methods of tutoring to provide quality education of knowledge.
Special scholarships programs should be created to encourage young minds to pursue technology. Technology is a very fundamental tool in education, it makes teaching easier and learning faster. It bridges the gap of poor access to education by providing sustainable solutions like online education, video tutoring and E-Learning.