Getting education reform right in Nigeria and Africa as a whole

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

EDUCATION reform encapsulates two essential traits-Innovation and Opportunitythe key is to get this immersed thoroughly in our education institutions. Creating the conditions for these traits to thrive in our institutions, in our society, that’s the real challenge.

Today, Education Reform is touted about even by people who have no idea what it means. Previously it depicted revolutionary change, now due 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. Education reform is losing ground and struggling to hold at all levels.

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

Amina is 11 years old. Today is her first day in secondary school and at home, everyone has teased her relentlessly about how she is now a big girl. It’s with this excitement that she went to school, looking forward to the experience. When she got to school, she and her mother collected her books for J.S.1 (7th grade equivalent US) Her eyes grew wider as she stared at the pile of books and afterwards, her mother joined her to struggle to get them all to fit into her backpack. It was a battle which they won with a slim margin; 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 3rd floor, to get there she’d have to climb narrow stairs with a bunch of frentic, active youngsters jousting each other for room. Trepidation grew in her belly but she tried to put on a brave front. In class, she sat on one of the middle chairs and waited for class to begin. By the third class, it was clear that she’d have to carry all of her books back and forth- to home and back to school. The teachers all taught from the textbooks and assigned homework specifically from them. She tried hard to get excited about the classes but by the 5th period, she found herself doodling on her paper and daydreaming.

At the end of the week, her back and legs ached. She also found most of her subjects too difficult to understand. Amina is a naturally, curious child and likes to ask questions.

She gets excited about new knowledge and looks forward to contributing her own bit back to society. She does wonder how she would be able to when all it seems like she does at school is try to avoid being on Mr Zach’s troublemakers’ list and achieve passing grades so that her parents don’t get mad at her. They constantly tell her what a huge sacrifice it is for them paying her school fees.

She loves to go online a lot to research the latest scientific findings, newest technologies and futuristic tech. She wishes her teachers would modernize how they taught them though.

I have met a lot of Aminas at the different schools that I have visited and work with. They desire us to drive Education to an evolving state. 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 when a lot of the world is moving forward. They also want to be on the forefront of progress and advancement in the global world.

From my over 10 plus years of experience, accomplishment and leadership in the education 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 guru educators across the globe.

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

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

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