MONDAY X-RAY: Covid-19 And Our Education
EDUCATION is a potent tool for the emancipation of every society. I remember the motto of my high school which says ‘Seek knowledge until found’, that is, acquisition that relates to facts, information and skills. Education has also been said to play a critical role in the way we interact and understand ourselves and the world around us. It is also said that education improves the quality of lives, leads to broad social benefits to individuals and society, and plays a very fundamental role in economic and social emancipation of man.
Indeed, the main purpose of education is to educate individuals within society, to prepare and qualify them for work within the economy as well as to integrate people into society and teach values and morals of society. Unfortunately, formal education through schooling has been one of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The school system has been disrupted. The protocol on physical distancing has made it imperative for schools to be closed down, at least, to contain the spread of the scourge.
Since schools cannot be closed down indefinitely, e-learning (electronic learning) or online education is seen as alternative to physical education. Albeit, not the same as physical teaching or presence, e-learning is education or learning conducted through electronic media using or via the internet. Its success depends on a number of factors including availability of data, electricity, mobile phone or note book (computer), finance, and the disposition of the parties involved, that is, the instructor or teacher and the student.
Did we prepare for e-learning? Unfortunately, we did not prepare for it. COVID-19 has therefore, exposed part of the contemporary issues in our education and there is no better time than now for the nation to start addressing them. We are backward because we have neglected education for too long as we have been placing premium on unbridled wealth acquisition, political jobbery, politicisation of education and the plundering of the commonwealth.
COVID-19 should challenge us to radically revamp our education as sooner than later, the effect of school closure and the idleness of millions of our youths would soon snowball into social problems with dire consequences for the nation. I foresee a situation where many students would not be able to return to school due to financial difficulty, demotivation, distractions, involvement in cultism and others forms of criminality, exposure to bad gangs and family or parental abandonment.
To address contemporary issues in our education post COVID-19, it is imperative that all stakeholders must think outside the box and note that they cannot continue to act in the same way and expect a turnaround in our education. We must think creatively and act decisively. Motivation and walking the talk are desirable. The society is yearning for the deliverance of our education from the present paralysis.
Technology which is now a way of life must henceforth drive our education. Experts in educational administration, tests and measurement, instructional technology, computer science, distance learning, and new concepts in education and knowledge transfer must be assembled to prepare a new blue print or road map to education revitalisation. Educational technology should offer us the opportunity to redirect our learning system to keep up with the rest of the developed world.
Funding of education is another issue. We don’t seem to be getting this issue right for God knows why. Let us learn and practice how it is done elsewhere. If we cannot copy from Europe and North America, let us borrow from Asia notably Singapore, China, Malaysia, China, Japan, India and Indonesia operating functional education system for development.
The welfare of teachers and the quality of teaching should be given desperate attention. If teachers are not well motivated, it would be herculean to expect anything meaningful or creative from them. In the last three or four decades the quality of teachers has been dwindling owing to many factors. The major summation is that nobody can give what he does not have.
It is now more desirable that efforts must be geared toward making acquisition of education quite desirable. Statistics being shunned out show that the male gender is lagging behind in educational pursuit. While it is good news that the female gender is pursuing education with vigour, the male gender should not abandon education. Education is the foundation of any society and no gender should be excluded or left out in the acquisition of education.
COVID-19 has presented us with an opportunity to take a second look at our education to ensure that our society is emancipated and sooner than later, we can get to the Promised Land.
By
Fassy Yusuf, Ph.D.
E-mail: drcfassyaoyusuf@gmail.com
Mobile: 0809 615 8530 (SMS only)
