by Olutayo Irantiola

“Daddy, Paper yes! Paper yes!” “Tise, where is the paper you are saying yes to?”

She gave me the look I have come to associate with being told that I’m not smart.

“Daddy, I said paper yes! Paper yes! I am not saying yes to a paper”

“Paper yes” “No Dayddy, papper yes!!!…”

-Pius Adesanmi

Excerpt from Facebook post- 9^th September 2016

This was the above conversation between the late Professor Pius Adesanmi and his daughter, Tise, when she was introduced to paperless learning in Canada. However, here in Nigeria, e-learning, for years, has remained an albatross hanging endlessly around our neck. Reflecting deeply on the educational system in Nigeria, one is tempted to say that the various tertiary institutions offering distance learning programmes need to be questioned for not getting it right ab initio.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020 had brought about many of the defects of our educational system and our modus operandi in the area of education. All these have shown up that many more things need to be done right in order to educate the next generation, if we are really sincere that we want to raise globally competitive children.

Interestingly, the alma mater of Professor Adesanmi, the University of Ilorin, was one of the first Nigerian universities to introduce electronic examinations in 2013 under the administration of Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali. The University organised an induction programme for the University’s Computer-Based Test (CBT) Management Board. Thereafter, the University introduced the Computer-Based Test for Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (Post-UTME), and it eventually became a means of assessing the knowledge acquired by students across all levels. Paradoxically, the aforementioned situation would definitely be a challenge for a student raised in rural Nigeria who has never encountered a computer. These are some of the issues addressed by e-learning companies such as Roducate and uLessons.

Before our new realities, orchestrated by COVID-19, only a few children had access to digital devices. They attend the very expensive schools spread across selected cities in the country. They are introduced to various applications and other ICT tools that are used overseas by their contemporaries. The knowledge acquired by these children aids their thinking and, in fact, boosts their self-confidence. By the time they complete their secondary school education, they are adept at using computers, can type accurately, and are prepared for admission to foreign universities.

Interestingly, this new order must be embraced by all; it has become today’s reality, and it has fast-tracked learning across all ages. However, we must be willing to scale these hurdles, namely, the cost of procuring devices; the price of data; intermittent interruption of electricity supply; the concentration of students; measuring the effectiveness of the knowledge acquired, amongst other flimsy excuses. With just a little addition, we all have what is required for e-learning to keep being relevant.

In the last few weeks that children have been engaged via e-learning, there are many traits that parents have seen. Some children are easily distracted, some have nonchalant attitudes, some abhor it, while some have embraced it wholeheartedly. However, we do not need to stop this laudable introduction because children and their parents have an opportunity to bond much more. The assurance is that it can only get better as every pupil or student will get used to it over time. We have a lot to benefit if both the parents and children wholeheartedly embrace it.

The benefit that the third world would gain from this experience will be phenomenal. Teachers have been training to embrace e-teaching while the students are e-learning. Teachers now know that they do not have to be in the four corners of a classroom to educate students, while students know that they learn through videos and respond to their teachers’ questions.

The devices people carry around had not been put to optimal use until the outbreak of COVID-19. The set of apps on their devices is gaming apps, but now, the students are on Google Classroom and Zoom, interacting with their teachers and classmates, learning and exchanging ideas.

Another beautiful thing that COVID-19 have shown us is that there would be a drastic fall in issues largely in tertiary institutions of learning, such as mark-for-sex; marking down of students; cases of missing scripts and transcripts, amongst others. All the activities are stored up in the cloud for reference at any time. Also, the limitation of students’ lives to the classroom would be reduced.

We would also be achieving a feat if we gradually reduce our dependence on paper, as renowned environmentalist Rev. Nnimmo Bassey would rejoice at the number of trees that will not be felled in the forest. Equally, parents would no longer wait till the end of the day before having an update about their children anymore through the Communication Book; schools can now have the children’s daily report shared via all these e-platforms. We would also be reducing the contact of these children to the various toxic substances available on the streets.

I will want to close with Kemi Lawal’s narration on Facebook about an examination she wrote recently from the confines of her home on 27th May 2020. She had a 3-hour exam, and she was invigilated via Zoom. The proctor showed her a 360-degree view of her son’s room where she chose to write the examination. She was warned not to open another tab on the laptop, or else she would be automatically logged out. No phones, no wristwatches, calculators, etc. allowed. Just a plain sheet of paper and a pencil, which she had to show the back and front view!

Ultimately, we have been challenged by COVID-19, and we can see the brighter side of the pandemic from the swift development of the educational sector if we learn, unlearn, relearn and e-learn. We have no excuse to jettison this new wave of learning that has been thrust upon us. We are on the right path to raising a new generation of children as we look into the rising prospect of Africa.

Olutayo IRANTIOLA is a Public Relations Consultant based in Lagos, Nigeria.