Getting Education Reform Right In Nigeria and Africa, By Adetola Salau

…we need to put educational technology in education reform. Another thing we need to do is to bring together the greatest minds to quickly solve the urgent problems facing all learners and potential learners, from their earliest days through to their becoming young adults.

If you are going to do something, do it right!

Education reform encapsulates two essential factors — Innovation and Opportunity — which need to get thoroughly immersed in our educational institutions. Creating the conditions for these factors to thrive in our institutions and society is the real challenge.

Today, education reform is touted about even by people who have no idea what it means. Previously it depicted revolutionary change, but now due to the proliferation of the usage of the term, it has become more synonymous with the status quo. Attitudes that inhibit innovation and opportunity are spreading, while education reform is losing ground and struggling to cut through at all levels.

Let’s get back to the roots of where it all began; and why is it important? What does education reform mean to students, their parents and society at large?

Amina is 11 years old. Before resuming on her first day in secondary school, everyone at home had teased her relentlessly about how she is now a big girl. It was with this excitement that she went to school, looking forward to the experience. Once in school, she and her mother collected her books for J.S.1 (the 7th grade equivalent in the US). Her eyes grew wider as she stared at the pile of books, which her mother joined her in struggling to fit into her backpack. It was a battle which they only won by a slim margin, as the edges of the backpack were bursting and the zipper was seriously strained.

Next, it was time to go to class, and they discovered to their dismay that her class was on the third floor.

To get there she’d have to climb narrow stairways alongside a bunch of frentic, active youngsters jousting each other for space. Trepidation grew in her belly but she tried to put on a brave face. In class, Amina discovered she’d have to move her books back and forth with each new lesson, because the teachers all taught from the different textbooks and assigned homework specifically from them. She tried hard to get excited about the classes but by the fifth period, she found herself doodling on her paper and daydreaming. Then there was, subsequently, the task of moving all her books between school and home, and vice-versa, as she needed to get all her homework done, and ready for classes again.

By the end of the week, her back and legs ached. She also found many of her subjects too difficult to comprehend.

Amina is naturally curious and likes to ask questions. She gets excited about new knowledge and looks forward to contributing her bit to things. Yet, she wonders how she would be able to do this, when all she seems to do at school is trying to avoid being on Mr. Zach’s troublemakers’ list and doing well in class, so that her parents don’t get mad at her. They had emphasised to her the huge sacrifice they were making in paying her school fees.

Amina loves to go online a lot to research scientific findings, new technologies and futuristic tech. She wishes her teachers would modernise how they taught them too.

I have met a lot of Aminas in the different schools that I visit and work with. They desire us to drive education to a continuously evolving state. Hence, we need to push for a movement that transforms the landscape for educational excellence for our students.

As I talk to them, I feel their budding frustration at the archaic models and methods still being used to teach them when a lot of the world is moving forward. They also want to be at the forefront of progress and advancement in the global world.

From my over 10 years of experience, accomplishment and leadership in the educational sphere, I am focused on how we can bring about opportunity to millions of our students by building bridges with innovators worldwide, leading technologies and progressive educators across the globe.

Yes, we need to put educational technology in education reform. Another thing we need to do is to bring together the greatest minds to quickly solve the urgent problems facing all learners and potential learners, from their earliest days through to their becoming young adults.

Education is about learning. I won’t stop until we have accomplished all it entails.

Amina leaves us with a question though, “Why won’t we replace these heavy textbooks with ebooks on tablets or our phones? Everyone reads the news on their tablets or phones all the times. It’d make it easier for us to study, though.”
Mull on what Amina’s thoughts, please.

Adetola Salau, an advocate of STEM education, public speaker, author, and social entrepreneur, is passionate about education reform.