Stakeholders advocate ICT for students’ literacy devt

Some education stakeholders have reinstated the need for Nigeria to adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to develop the literacy level of its students. The stakeholders made the call while speaking at the 15th anniversary Lecture of the New Nigeria Foundation (NNF) titled: “Teachers and Technology as Critical Resources for Teaching and Learning in Secondary […]

Some education stakeholders have reinstated the need for Nigeria to adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to develop the literacy level of its students.
The stakeholders made the call while speaking at the 15th anniversary Lecture of the New Nigeria Foundation (NNF) titled: “Teachers and Technology as Critical Resources for Teaching and Learning in Secondary School in the 21st Century,” in Lagos.
Prof. Abiola Awosika, in her keynote address, said there is an urgent need for Nigeria to close the gap between the way students live and the way they learn so that they can be better engaged with the reality of the 21st century, adding that the only way to achieve that objective is to integrate ICT with the learning system obtainable in schools.
“As a nation, we have to quickly embrace the integration of technology into our learning systems to enhance quality, excellence and productivity. It may take some time for teachers and institutions to be equipped with what is needed to learn in the 21st Century but once they are, the impact will be dramatic,” she said.
Earlier in his address, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NNF, Prof. Obafemi Ajibola, said the foundation has education as its priority because education deals with the nation’s future.
He noted that there has been an observable steady decline in the performance of students in national examinations in the last 10 years, adding that there is need to find a solution confronting the sector with the aid of modern technology.
“We must find a solution to this problem and we must prepare our young people in such a way that they will be able to deliver the Nigeria of our dreams,” he said.
Also, frontline educationists including Prof Francis Adesina, Dr Muyiwa Bamgbose, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, Ms Igho Pearl Ugbogbor and Dr Tunji Abimbola, in a panel discussion, highlighted the roles of critical stakeholders in making secondary school education effective and how to integrate technology in the secondary education sector, among other issues considered for the development of the nation’s literacy level.