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TOPE OMOGBOLAGUN writes about the challenges of digital learning in Nigeria amid the COVID-19 pandemic
“Classes have been great with our teachers helping us to prepare for our WASSCE. It is good that we have been having the class if not it would be difficult to pas our exams. We have been able to learn a whole lot.” Dorcas also lamented that there were days that she would be alone in the house and her parents would have forgotten to fuel the generator thus making her miss classes.
She said, “I don’t have any other means of livelihood and now that they are on holiday, it’s better they help me. Since this coronavirus, I have been telling them to read their books in the morning once we return from the farm where we harvest cassavas. While I am preparing fufu, they will be reading their books. Onceis ready, Rasheed and his sister will hawk the food so that we can earn a living. I also sell in the house and in the neighbourhood usually come to buy fufu from me at home.
According to the Nigerian Communication Commission, Nigeria still has 200 communities with a telecommunication access gap. These communities accounted for more than 40 million Nigerians lacking access to the lnternet. According to a report by United Nations International Children Educations Funds, one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.
She narrated that before COVID-19, she was a Junior Secondary School two pupil in Lagos school. Her father who’s an artisan always left the house early in the morning for a construction site to work to get money to feed his family. She noted that her mother who supported her father in the family upkeep continued to switch from roasted yam business, roasted plantain, African pear, to selling boiled and raosted corn based on the food in season.
Chiamaka said, “My brother Ndubuisi now learns from a vulcaniser opposite our mother’s shop, while my two little siblings usually in the shop with the mother.” One could say all hope wasn’t lost for her compared to Aminu, a native of Sokoto, who had migrated to Lagos during the lockdown to join his brother, Kabir in his pepper business.
In the category of Aminu who has no intention of returning to school is Yetunde. But her case is tougher because, according to the Senior Secondary School one pupil, she recently discovered she would soon be a mother.Yetunde sat in silence looking as her mother lamented that she got pregnant during the COVID-19 lockdown., she left them at home so they could read. But Yetunde’s boyfriend would use the opportunity of her mother’s absence to visit her and one thing led to the other.
A private school teacher, Mr Mudathir Umar, described his experience with online learning as beautiful, explaining that it had been a world of adventure for him to learn many things he never thought he could learn. He said, “Some of our pupils cannot attend the online learning because they cannot afford the cost. Some parents complained of having to spend much on data considering their low income at this period.
Another teacher, Miss Oluwatunmise Adewole believed that school authorities came up with the idea of virtual classes for pupils to beat the challenges thrown up by COVID-19. “There is also a need for parents to be informed and be reminded of their roles as stakeholders in training the children. Parents have a role in training children. Certain ages in the primary and secondary school ensure that they would need proper guidance for proper digital learning.”
The school proprietor also added that virtual learning had provided an avenue for pupils to compare notes with other schools to sustain healthy competition. “The challenges are the fact that it is expensive. We can acknowledge the fact that we purchase some gadgets and which can be expensive and also the gadgets can wear out at the point of use. Some of them can malfunction and we have to replace them. Another issue we have is that of poor network; most times the network is bad. It is because of these networks that we added“Some teachers and parents have had to buy generators even ifit is the small ones.
“The reason we are having problems is because we lack infrastructure whether it is lack of electricity, power, roads, base stations in case of ICT and incentive for operators to build infrastructure to provide internet or voice calls. He said, “We can see that we now have the broadband plan of 2020-2025. It alludes to the fact that there is a lack of infrastructure and the priority of the roll out should be to the schools, hospitals, health centres and the local government headquarters.
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