Nigeria's Education will Witness Revolution with COVID-19, Says TRCN Registrar

The Registrar and Chief Executive of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Segun Ajiboye, on Tuesday said the teaching profession would witness a total revolution after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

This is just as he said faculties of education and Colleges of Education in the country need to review their curricula to include technology-driven training and preparations.

Ajiboye, while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital,  said COVID-19 has thrown up a challenge for a paradigm shift in the way teachers are trained and the way learning is executed in Nigeria, stating that the advanced countries are able to continue teaching and learning through the deployment of technology which is still yet to be engaged fully in the country.

He added that the post-COVID 19 reality is that Nigeria must invest in technology to drive her educational system, noting that the world will not wait for the country to catch up with it.

While noting that TRCN already started digital literacy for teachers in 2018, Ajiboye said a proposal is already before the Federal Ministry of Education to scale up beneficiaries of the training across the country.

He added that in many years to come, teachers who are able to use technology will displace those unable to use it in facilitating learning, maintaining that professional teachers must be ready for the task ahead hence the need to increase the education budget.

According to him, "One thing is that COVID-19 is a big challenge to education globally, which is affecting about 1.7 million in about 152 countries. Africa has a big problem. Some different countries in developed countries have been able to mitigate the impact through internet. In Nigeria, we are not there yet. This has compounded our out-of-school problems.

 

"Even tertiary education is not excluded. Both teachers and students are at home in Nigeria. It is a challenging time for the teaching profession, but also, it is an eye opener. The kind of training we give to our teachers needs to be reviewed. We need technology-mediated learning. The world will not wait for Nigeria. Their calendar is running but we are on long vacation here.

"After this COVID-19 experience, there will be revolution in the way we prepare and train our teachers. How do we leverage on technology? Teachers who know how to use technology will replace those unable to use it. In 2018, TRCN did digital literacy education in Nigeria but those covered are small. We have submitted a proposal to the ministry of education to scale it up. We need technology to democratise learning. It caught us unawares, and I think it calls for a sober reflection to look for ways ahead."