It is going to be a situation of what we call ‘Technology Mediated Learning’ and this is the way to go
The Registrar of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Segun Ajiboye, has called on African leaders to rejig their education sectors and adopt Technology Mediated Learning.
While disclosing this in an interview on Tuesday 28 April, 2020, Ajiboye acknowledged that the education sector was heavily affected by the pandemic.
He noted that the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 experience was enough to trigger development of infrastructure that will cater for e-learning.
He said, “There are no preparations on how to sustain learning activities when the pandemic spread to the continent.”
“The stay-at-home order due to the pandemic had affected the education of more than 1.5 million children and youths globally.
“In Nigeria and in deed Africa, we are badly affected because we were never prepared for this; we don’t have the infrastructure to be able to take care of this kind of situation,” he explained.
“In some other climes, they were able to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic using technology mediated learning.
“Before the children were sent home, they were given laptops and the teachers have internet facilities and other applications they can use to teach their students during lockdown,” he added.
He noted further that the challenges confronting the rural areas in terms of access to e-learning platforms must be addressed.
Ajiboye, however, commended the proactive efforts of the federal ministry of education and state governments for the various virtual learning platforms created.
While urging stakeholders to rejig the Nigeria’s education system, he affirmed that the current situation is an eye opener and a clear indication that 21st century education is not going to be one where teachers stand in front of the students to teach all the time.
“It is going to be a situation of what we call ‘Technology Mediated Learning’ and this is the way to go,” he added.
