What has the education sector learnt from COVID19?

On March 23, 2020, universities in Nigeria went on compulsory lockdown which meant a disruption in the academic calendar. It was not until about three weeks later we commenced online teaching via WhatsApp, Telegram, Zoom, University's learning platforms, etc. Whether or not these online teachings have been effective in terms of participation and learning outcomes is a bulk load of research on its own. many schools are also at a standstill because of the challenge of conducting examination online. Indeed, this pandemic has revealed our underbelly.

One of the things that stood out at the beginning of lockdown was that our educational sector lacked capacity. The capacity to teach beyond the traditional classroom setting. The capacity to meet the test of time. One would think that with the presence of open university and distance learning in Nigeria, systems were in place to cater for teaching and learning beyond the classroom.

However, it's been 3 months since the lockdown was put in place in several cities in the country and it's been 3 month of inconsistent teaching and learning, limited participation in learning among students. To say that no institutions in Nigeria have attempted to go online prior to COVID19 would be a lie. Attempts have been made, albeit, carelessly or even abandoned at some point. Yo also claim that no institutions in Nigeria has digitized learning (especially at the Primary and secondary level) will be doing the educational sector in Nigeria, a disservice.

Several factors impedes the ability of our educational systems to hop on the train of online teaching effectively. Some are the poor/absent power supply, high cost of mobile data, lack of institutional funding, dysfunctional online learning platforms, lack of skills and capacity required to teach online among many teachers/lecturers, poverty/low-income, mental unpreparedness.

Despite all these attempts, the advent of covid19 showed that our preparation wasn't enough to meet a challenge such as Covid19. Some might say "it is unprecedented and no one would have known how it would pan out". What then shall we say of schools in other countries who have gone on to take exams,conduct postgraduate defense and even graduate students? Do they have two heads? I think not!

What then has covid19 taught us? That we need enduring educational systems. That achieving the goal of quality education has became more challenging as we look at a digital world. That teachers have to improve their capacity through specific training- teachers training school experience of a decade ago cannot help you here. That our students need to familiarize with learning online and mentally prepare for it through training. That institutions have to be equipped functioning online learning platforms that transcends WhatsApp and Telegram chats. That the vulnerable and less privileged will be more disadvantaged and there will likely be an increase in the number of out of school children in the coming years.

Will all these, i wonder if the educational sector will be transformed in the coming months and years to accommodate the changes the world is undergoing.