This Informative Essay written by Idowu Samuel Ayodele
THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION POST COVID 19
AN ESSAY SUBMITTED BY IDOWU SAMUEL AYODELE
FROM ASCEND ROYAL ACADEMY, KUBWA, ABUJA.
To start with, it is important for us to have a background over-view of the term ‘education’. Oxford Advanced English dictionary defines education as the process of receiving or giving systematic information, especially at school or university.
It is the process of facilitating learning or acquisition of knowledge, skills values, beliefs and habits. It is derived from a Latin word ‘educatio’ which means breeding, a bringing up and direct research. Education takes place in a formal or informal setting, and experience which has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels or acts may be considered educational.
A conscious and deliberate effort is required to create an atmosphere of learning and a learning process that is conducive so that the learners can actively develop the potential for him to have spiritual strength, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character and skills needed for themselves and for the society.
However, I submit that education is the bedrock of personal, social and economic development. An Informed individual is an educated entity who has been developed through formal learning, to become self-reliant, bold, responsible and stable, while an informed nation takes adequate decision about the development of its nation; economic development and human resources development to elevate the standard of the nation and also to invest in the capacity of her populace.
Considering this topic, emphasis would be laid on the formal educational setting and the future of it after the novel COVID 19 pandemic. It is a non gainsaying fact that COVID 19 has affected educational sector worldwide in which Nigeria is not an exemption leading to the total closure of schools, universities and colleges. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID 19.
Statistics shows that as at the 7th of June 2020, approximately 1.72 billion learners are currently affected due to school closures in response to the pandemic.
According to UNICEF monitoring, 134 countries are currently implementing local closures, impacting about 98.5 percent of the world’s student population. The effect of schools closure is not only on students, teachers and families but has far-reaching economic consequences.
It is important to note that the state of education before the sudden emergence of the novel Covid-19 pandemic differs from country to country. The state of European educational system differs from the African state of education; with their differences ranging from conducive learning environment, adequate facility to aid teaching and learning, competent and qualified instructors and teachers in their respective fields, availability of learning materials, among others as converse to African pathetic state of education, especially Nigeria. Developed countries have an adequate and improved educational budget while most developing countries like Nigeria have a rather poor educational budget which has an overwhelming drastic effect on the quality of education obtainable in the country.
Moreover, in most developed countries, there are huge investment on technology and innovation because they understand that it is the language of the future. For instance, China is strategically investing heavily in robotics, nano-technology, 3D printing, big data analytics, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cloud computing, human machine cooperation and hypersonics. This is an indication that they are already buying into the future, and to thrive in the future, the traditional way of learning, reading and passing exams would not be sustainable in the future thereby launching into creative innovations and technology.
For an individual or a nation to thrive in the future after the pandemic, there are basic 21st century skills that a developing nation like Nigeria must key into in order to be relevant in the future the educational system is thriving at. These skills are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, flexibility, leadership initiative, productivity and social skills. These are the skills that the future teachers, students, including the government must key into so as to have a solid society and a developed nation. As a result of this, adequate funding is of a paramount necessity most especially in Nigeria and other developing countries in order to beat the tide of the future.
Education is advancing due to technological and digital innovation because COVID 19 has exposed the weakness of learning and teaching in developing countries like Nigeria without technological and digital advancement. It is obvious that the innovative strategy adopted by many countries to cut the gap of learning during this COVID season is the introduction of online teaching through different social media platforms like Zoom, Google classroom, WhatsApp and other platforms employed to connect teachers and students. The loophole is so wide in developing counties even in Nigeria which reflects that the nation is not yet ready to buy into the future as different challenges of teaching via technology was enormous during this exercise.
Some of these challenges are poor internet connections in the country, non availability of gadget that could enhance digital learning, inability to monitor student participation in e-leaning classes, poor funding of technological innovation that could spur the nation’s academic improvement, among others.
To succeed in the future of education, proper technological and digital skills is of a paramount importance. The shortcoming of these challenges has really reflected the state of developing countries in reference to Nigeria, that we are not ready for the future trend in the sector. The future would be so herculean and hectic if the government does not invest properly in digital and technological innovations to boost affective and relevant learning skills in the educational sectors of developing countries like Nigeria. Most teachers who are not digitally and technologically inclined would not be able to cope with this new trend in the future, likewise students who are not digitally informed would not cope in the future demand of education, a government that is not digitally prepared would lag behind in the future educational activities. COVID 19 has taught the relevance of digitalization in the educational sector and to buy into the future, both individual and government must internalise the importance of it in the future.
In Nigeria for instance, many public school students were at the receiving end of this shortcoming for lack of digital tools to engage them during the COVID 19 period to boost their learning capacity as against their counterpart in the private schools due to lack of funding by the government and poor consideration of digitalization in the public school. Most public schools in Nigeria do not have a well furnished computer laboratory where learning could take place let alone reaching students at home during COVID 19. This has left most of the students docile and some are even constituting nuisance at home because there is nothing to engage them to be active academically while the novel pandemic lingers.
It is also suffice to say that quality education does not only develop human skills and knowledge of the people or labour force of the country but it is also a source of economic activities that attract foreign investors and students. Therefore, the future of education after COVID 19 is in the area of entrepreneurial skills to meet the demands of the 21st century world. Educators or teachers would not only teach practical courses in abstraction but also would be demanded to take pro-active steps in building the creative capabilities of their students. For instance, a student studying Marketing in the tertiary institution would not be complacent taking note only for the sake of passing an exam but would rather stretch further to practice some of the learning instructions he or she has learnt in school, to engage in selling of products so as to make ends meet. We can see that while the pandemic lingers in the country and with an incessant increasing figure in the world, most people including students have been able to activate their creative prowess and articulate their marketing skills by the means of producing facemask, snacks and other fast selling products that are easily affordable by the people, as a survival strategy in a developing country like Nigeria where the larger stem of the populace do not receive palliative from the government. Vocational education and entrepreneurship would definitely take a stand after COVID 19. This is another future that the educational sector should take cognisance of, most importantly Nigeria, after the pandemic has finally been made to rest.
Leadership is another area the educational system would place premium on after the COVID 19. It has been observed that different responses to the rising challenge by the developed countries cannot be compared with the way leaders respond in developing countries. Prompt actions were taken by the United state leaders in responding adequately in time to curb the spread of COVID 19 as against Nigeria as a nation. Education will take a quantum leap in building leadership capacity of students in order for them to be more responsible and sound in decision making in the case of emergency situations.
In conclusion, the novel Pandemic has really taught a lot of lessons, and for education to thrive in the imminent future, the points highlighted in this discourse would be necessary most especially for a developing country like Nigeria.
 |
| Idowu Samuel Ayodele - Grammarian |
REFERENCES
1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education
2. https://m.guardian.ng/features/education/aligning-2020-education-to-future-demands/
3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_education
4. Oxford advance learner dictionary. Definition of education.
You Pallat sir
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDelete