Former Commissioner for Education in Lagos State, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, has emphasised the need for stakeholders to give priority attention to upskilling teachers to guarantee a positive impact of technology on learners.
Adefisayo, the Chief Executive Officer of Leading Learning Limited, admitted that though there has been an increase in the adoption of Edtech, it has failed to impact learning outcomes.
This was the takeout at the February edition of Edtech Mondays, an initiative organised by the Co-Creation Hub (CCHUB) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s Centre for Innovative Teaching and learning in Information and Communication Technology.
The session themed: “Evaluating the impact of government policies in Edtech adoption in Nigeria,” was moderated by the programme associate, CCHUB, Abigail Anaza-Mark.
Adefisayo said if the government is keen on adopting innovation in the sector, it must give adequate attention to teachers’ training and reward systems.
“Innovation has to happen in the classroom; teachers need to be superbly skilled. We need to look at how we treat educators and give the profession the honour it deserves. We should also upskill and teach them how to deploy resources to improve their crafts,” Adefisayo said.
She noted that despite the implementation of the 2019 national policy of ICT in education, which focuses on research and infrastructure, the course of learning and teaching in schools has not improved.
She stressed the need for the government to review the country’s curriculum to include integration and adoption of technology, as this would go a long way to support learning and teaching.
“Edtech solution is not in the country’s curriculum and cannot be included in the scheme of work. Textbooks are still king as far as teaching and learning are concerned in Nigeria. Teachers are not taught the skills of integrating technology into the classroom. It is something done by science and technology, but not the education sector itself,” she added.
Commenting on the policy guidelines needed to advance the adoption of Edtech in Nigeria, the educationist said the government must come up with policies that would take into account the confidentiality, safety and security of children online, as well as the emotional relationship between the school and parents.
