Tackling Education Inequalities: Lagos Stakeholders Advocate Use Of Tech

Mohammed O. Taoheed reports,

Stakeholders and experts have spoke on the need for adequate use of technology to enhance teaching and boost learning results in all tiers of education, including its primary schools in Lagos State.

Panelists and contributors made the remark at the second breakout session of the 2022 Lagos State Education Summit, themed: ‘Creating a sustainable Fit-For-Purpose Education Model,’ held in Lagos.

They stressed education as an integral part of every society and, like every social institution had witnessed changes over the years. Thus, to enable more innovative and engaging teaching methods and learning experiences, schools, including primary ones, are incorporating emerging technologies into the classroom. These include Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Robotics, Live Streaming, Adaptive Learning Algorithms and 3D Printing.

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial heartbeat and megacity, is not left behind in using technology to improve teaching and boost learning outcomes across all tiers of education, including its primary schools.

Panelists comprising Soji Megbowon, STEM teacher and co-founder, Teenprenuer Hub; Lanre Abolaji Oguntoye, science educator, Greensprings School; Femisola Awosika, Executive Director, Robert and John Limited; Omowale David-Ashiru, MD, New Globe Education Services and Amabelle Nwakanma, Director of Programme, LEAP Africa, did adequate justice to the topic, ‘Emerging Technologies in Education (Pre-tertiary education).

Innocent Oaikhena, school administrator at Corona Day Secondary School, moderated the highly engaging session as panelists, stakeholders, assessed Lagos’s current State of play and areas for further improvement.

Speaking on Lagos’ adoption of technology in its primary schools, Awosika commended the state government, which introduced EKOEXCEL, a transformational initiative for boosting learning and teaching using cutting-edge technology in 2019, for its impressive educational policies.

“Lagos State has wowed my organization. The way they’ve embraced technology for child development deserves kudos. The way they’ve used technology to develop the children in Lagos and how the leadership—directors, permanent secretary, commissioner and the governor—is commendable. We have worked together well. Whenever we come to them with technology and say this is what will happen. Immediately, they’re embracing it. That’s a big leap. Working with other states and Lagos, they are certainly the best,” he said.

He said, “I’ll like to see technology in real-time assessment of the teacher’s work. What’s going on in the classroom? How are the children reacting to lessons? That will come from the kind of artificial technology. And it should be seamless around the learning environment.”

Awosika further called for a synergy between universities, and secondary and primary schools using technology, including augmented reality and virtual reality, to widen their horizon and show them the possibilities right from primary school.

Mrs. Omowale David-Ashiru, whose NewGlobe, an e-learning solution provider that has supported urgent education transformation for over a decade in Africa and Asia and supports visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems, went a step further than Awosika by stressing the importance of teaching and learning solutions.

The head of NewGlobe, the technical partner to interventions, including EKOEXCEL in Lagos, EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation) in Edo State and KwaraLEARN in Kwara State, also highlighted the pervasiveness of technology in all sectors, including education and the importance of data.

According to her, “Technology is no longer just an industry, it is in every industry. So, to that extent, technology is firmly in education. It fits in teaching and learning, all aspects of things. One of the things technology has to do is render, and I would love to use Lagos as an example through EKOEXCEL.

“They have used technology to make education accessible to children everywhere. A child in the outskirts and the suburbs gets the same education quality through technology.”

Responding to a question from the moderator about the advantages of the emerging technologies and their impact on learning, David-Ashiru said, “it goes beyond being a consumer to the producer of the technology.”

She also talked on the importance of literacy, saying only literate people can build their technologies and that increasing literacy is one of EKOEXCEL’s goals.

David-Ashiru said, “The people who design and produce those technologies, that’s what we should be looking at. And why is that important? The truth is, if you’re not the one producing the technology, the technology will not be designed for you. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa.

“When you’re thinking about designing a curriculum for your young people, you have to ask yourself, what is their community asking of them at a particular time in their lives? Or their country asking them.? So, innovation is also important.

“Then, technology is not just about getting tablets. The environment is also important. How many people have access to the internet? How many have access to electricity.?

“In terms of bringing in technology, what Lagos has to do is invest in solutions that will meet the needs of the people. Suppose we want to introduce technology to teachers. Can we have the kind that will meet our needs in our environment? Using New Globe and the type of tablets we use, they are designed to be functional.

“You can get all the information that you need to teach. You don’t need the internet to use it. Only the headteacher needs to connect to the cloud and create a local area network. No internet is required. Data is inside the LAN; you get the data in real time. NewGlobe provides technology that doesn’t need to be charged daily; you can use it for two weeks. Our tech should always be appropriate.”

Before, at the summit’s opening, Sanwo-Olu, assured his administration would commit more resources to ensure that all out-of-school children in the State returned to school.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu made education a vital pillar of his development plan for the megacity under the acronym THEMES and has adopted some emerging technologies.

Education and technology are the third pillars of this development plan, with the others being Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism and Security and Governance.

Though, Lagos is on a good edge in primary education, it is still not resting on its oars, hence the decision to critically examine if the technologies in its primary schools are fit for purpose and impactful.

In the words of Sanwo-Olu, “Our administration is passionate about education, and we aim to bring transformation that will make our children better ambassadors of the State and country. We’ll prepare them with the requisite skills for tomorrow’s jobs.”

He noted that the state’s new school model was an example of the desired Fit-For-Purpose Education System. The governor also spoke on investments his administration had made in the sector, that through EKOEXCEL, 15,000 teachers have been upskilled.