Nigeria, others must improve education investment to tackle learning gap – Experts

…as report shows 70 % Nigerian children, age 10-year-old cannot read a simple sentence.

Experts have suggested that Nigeria and other countries of the world must boost education investment despite economic challenges in order to tackle global learning gap.

This was made known by a global consortium of experts in a new HP Futures report, which was convened by global technology leader HP in partnership with the Global Learning Council and T4 Education.

David McQuarrie, the chief commercial officer at HP & HP Futures chair, said that with today’s rapidly evolving landscape, driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technology innovations, the next generation needs the skills and digital fluency that will enable them to thrive in the 21st century.

He explained that the aim of the company with the HP Futures initiative is to provide impactful recommendations that will drive action towards more equitable and inclusive education.

Vikas Pota, the founder/CEO of T4 Education decried the fact that about 70 percent of children in the world cannot read nor understand simple text in about 20 years into the century.

“It is an international scandal that two decades into the 21st century, 70 percent of children worldwide cannot read and understand a simple text by the age of 10,” he said.

According to Pota spending money is not easy when times are tough, but an investment in education is an investment in the future of the nation and the world.

“Skill your teachers and your children; I hope that this is a commitment all nations can make to the next generation,” Pota said.

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The HP Futures initiative brought together five councils for six months in late 2023 and early 2024, which comprised of education and policymaking experts.

According to the report, each council held wide-ranging, in-depth, cross-cultural panel discussions and explored the global education challenges faced today through a specific lens.

All had a shared aim of generating a report containing insights and actionable recommendations for global governments, education policymakers and sector leaders.

This recommendation is rooted in extensive research including a 2020 study from the Washington Centre for Equitable Growth which found that every one dollar spent on education leads to a $1.66 return in economic activity later on, with greater effect during a recession.

The initiative had in attendance more than 100 education and policymaking experts including former heads of state, education ministers, academics, educators, and leaders from NGOs and businesses, from around the world, including Nigeria, to develop a set of practical recommendations to close learning gaps, particularly as the world is on course to miss the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 to achieve universal quality education by 2030.

According to the UNICEF report, “In Nigeria, 70 percent of 10-year-olds cannot read a simple sentence. The rapid rise of generative AI and automation is also changing our global economy while curricula continue to educate for a 20th-century economy.”

The HP Futures initiative sought to address these challenges, and the inaugural report suggests actions that can improve access to a good education, such as redesigning the education systems to create schools and curricula fit for tomorrow.

To achieve this, experts key recommendations include; having a genuinely effective approach to AI; implementing a hybrid schooling system with a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning formats; centering social and emotional learning skills in curricula; no longer mirroring an outdated industrial system by separating subjects; reforming assessment to ensure greater equality of outcomes; reforming curricula to focus on instilling a sense of agency in young people when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.

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Besides, the recommendation seeks early years’ interventions to help young people in less advantaged communities build knowledge economy / AI-proof skills from an early age. Deliver on existing commitments to a baseline in education, including offering universal Pre-kindergarten and ensuring girls’ transition to secondary education.

In addition, the experts called for a development of national assessment and data collection systems, because according to them, this is the most cost-effective investment in education today.

Moreover, the experts suggested subsidising EdTech tools which they say would help pupils attain foundational literacy and numeracy, including ensuring access to language-learning apps for all pupils.

They also called on governments and policymakers to invest in wide-ranging teacher upskilling initiatives, including those combatting low digital fluency among teachers, allowing educators to adapt to an EdTech and AI-empowered teaching era.

In response to the report, the management of HP said the company is introducing new programmes to boost the development of digital competencies in the next generation.

These programmes include HP Read AI, which addresses the challenge of improving foundational literacy by empowering teachers to create solutions through research, design thinking, and harnessing generative AI; and HP EdTech incubator, which supports the scaling of impactful education technology programmes worldwide by providing training, incubation and mentorship to selected educators.