A senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Management, University of Lagos, Dr Esther Oshionebo said that the alternative learning platforms created by the Nigerian government to maintain access to education during the COVID-19 induced lockdown have been less effective.
Recall that governments across Nigeria had introduced educational radio and television programmes, and in some cases online, to maintain some levels of access to education during the lockdown that had lasted nearly five months.
In this video clip from the EduCeleb Education Discourse, she identifies the gaps in terms of unstable electric supply, poverty of families to the extent that they may not even have radio sets and poor internet coverage in communities nationwide.
Nigeria has over 10 million out-of-school children, an estimate that places the West African country worse globally prior to the pandemic.
The scholar wondered if the government had children in the major cities alone in mind when it introduced these initiatives.
In her words, “The government is further dividing the nation by giving just a few the opportunity to learn while majority are outside. They are not learning. They are playing. They don’t have access to anything.”
According to her, the prevailing situations in the country may have exhercibated the gap in educational access among the younger populace.
She also proferred solutions to addressing these challenges amongst others.
Watch the video below.
