To ensure that learning processes are not obstructed in the face of any future pandemic, experts in the educational sector have urged governments on the continent to include technology in their curriculum delivery.
The experts who spoke at the second edition of a four-part virtual series titled ‘Technology and Innovation’ said that the continuity of educational activities amid a pandemic can only be ensured when leaders on the continent embrace technological learning solutions.
“There has to be a shift towards online and open education in Africa during a pandemic and technology has to be included in curricular delivery to make this happen,” said Aravinda Ram, deputy pro-vice-chancellor- employability and technology, Bothe University, Botswana.
Ram stated that the gradual inclusion of technological tools into schools’ curriculum delivery will aid the quick transition to e-learning in the advent of a pandemic.
She urged governments across the continent to provide necessary digital tools that will enable students to learn from home amid a pandemic using Botswana’s model amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Also speaking, Mansur Liman, director-general, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria said that 210 countries have currently closed their schools with 1.5billion children affected, accounting for 90.2percent of enrolled learners since the spread of the coronavirus.
Liman stated that what the world is currently facing is unprecedented and it will reshape educational delivery on the continent.
He noted that the millennia children who are currently affected are tech savvy but due to the peculiarities on the continent, radio remains one of the most effective technological learning tools amid a pandemic.
“Radio remains the most commonly available and accessed technology across the globe with 80 -90percent of households in Sub-Saharan-Africa having access to it,” he said.
“It also helps reduce the digital learning divide by addressing critical issues of people in remote areas across Africa who have no access to basic infrastructure and cannot afford data cost,” he added.
He called for the combination of radio with other digital tools to help resolve issues of feedback and teaching of practical subjects such as mathematics.
Similarly, Ade Adekola, partner, LV Partners, and advisory board member, Axiom Learning Solutions Nigeria, defined innovation as an application of better solutions that meet new requirements.
He called for public-private collaboration to provide critical learning educational solutions that will help the continent leapfrog as the pandemic has changed African values and attitudes to education.
Ani Charles Bassey-Eyo, CEO, Lani Group, and co-founder, Axiom Learning Solutions Nigeria, said that the continent needs to be innovative and structured in a way it can pilot and scale-up quickly.
Bassey-Eyo added that a particular technological solution is not a fit for all countries as markets and structures differ.
