IT DEPLOYMENT AS A TOOL FOR RAPID TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING

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IT DEPLOYMENT AS A TOOL FOR RAPID TRANSFORMATION
OF EDUCATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Federal Ministry of Education
by UWEM ASOMUGHA ICT DEPARTMENT, FME At Nicon
Luxury Hotel, Abuja 30th June 2011
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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

• This Presentation is in 7 Sections
• Presentation Objectives
• Introduction
• The Nigerian Education System
• The New Education System
• High Points of the National Policy on ICT in
  Education
• Next Steps
• Conclusion

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PRESENTATION OBJECTIVES

• Share with you the importance of IT in education
  and where we are with regards to harnessing the
  huge potentials of IT as a tool for transforming
  education in Nigeria.
• Identify challenges facing the development and
  deployment of IT in education.
• Identify critical success factors and chart a way
  forward towards meeting the demands for the human
  capital required for the attainment of the
  National Vision.

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• INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

• Knowledge has become the major driver of national
  development and a critical determinant of
  competitiveness in the world economy.
• Thus, countries all over the world are making the
  attainment of qualitative education a key
  priority as indicated in the Millennium
  Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education For
  All (EFA) goals.

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INTRODUCTION

• MDGs, which was adopted by 192 United Nations
  Member States and at least 23 International
  Organisations, has as one of its goals, achieving
  universal primary education by the year 2015
• EFA addresses, among others, improvement in the
  quality of education in all its aspects, aiming
  for a situation where people achieve excellence,
  and the promotion of lifelong learning.

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INTRODUCTION (contd)

• Attainment of qualitative education has been
  found to depend largely on the introduction of IT
  into the educational system.
• Empirical evidence reveals a correlation between
  the use of IT, particularly, computer
  technologies, and positive academic outcomes,
  higher test scores, better understanding of
  abstract concepts and better attitude towards
  schools.

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INTRODUCTION (contd)

• Other studies on the use of computers in the
  classroom have revealed that IT offers the
  greatest support to the most disadvantaged
  students e.g. indigent, low-achieving students
  and students with disabilities. \
• Reaping the benefits of IT in education depends
  largely on the ability of a nation to establish
  the most conducive education environment for
  using IT.

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INTRODUCTION (contd)

• This environment is determined by putting in
  place a policy to guide the development and
  deployment of IT in education.

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• The Nigerian Education System

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Organisation

• Education in Nigeria is on the Concurrent
  Legislative List, which makes it a shared
  responsibility of the Federal, States and Local
  Governments.
• The Federal Ministry of Education is responsible
  for laying down national policies and guidelines
  for uniform standards at all levels of education
  in Nigeria

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LEVELS OF EDUCATION
Sub-Sector
Description
ECCDE/ Basic

• 3 years Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
• 6 years Primary Education
• 3 years Junior Secondary Education
• Adult and Non-Formal Education including
  education of the nomads, migrant children, mass
  literacy and other disadvantaged groups

Post-Basic

• 3 years Senior Secondary
• 3 years Technical Education
• Continuing education in Vocational Enterprise
  Institutions (VEIs)

Tertiary

• Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs)
• 3 years Colleges of Education
• 2/4 years Polytechnics/Monotechnics
• 4 years Universities

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IT Penetration in the Nigerian Education Sector

• While there is no comprehensive statistics on the
  level of IT penetration in the education sector,
  it is safe from observable evidence, to say that
  the tertiary level appears to have the highest
  rate followed by the secondary level. There is
  also more penetration in the urban than in the
  rural.
• At the Federal level, there is a 100 penetration
  at the tertiary and secondary levels with regards
  to availability but not adequacy of requisite
  infrastructure and connectivity.

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IT Penetration in the Nigerian Education Sector

• At the Federal level, the focus so far has been
  on
• Policy development and setting of standards
• Provision of IT infrastructure and services
• Human capacity development
• Curriculum development and review
• Borderless access to learning and learning
  expertise
• Data harmonization and availability and
• Coordination of IT development and deployment in
  the education sector

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Challenges facing IT Deployment in the Nigerian
Education System

• Although a lot is being done to change the face
  of education in Nigeria, within the context of
  IT, the mode of education delivery still remains
  mostly traditional and face-to-face with the
  teacher as the source of knowledge. E-learning
  is still at an inchoate stage.

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Challenges facing IT Deployment in the Nigerian
Education System (contd)

• There is a highly insufficient pool of IT
  teachers and administrators in the education
  sector. The few IT staff available were trained
  using formal and traditional modes of education
  delivery, have little exposure to new and
  emerging trends and are therefore mostly not at
  the cutting edge of IT innovation.

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Challenges facing IT Deployment in the Nigerian
Education System (contd)

• Pre-service teachers are also being trained using
  the traditional approach.
• There is a dearth of IT infrastructure including
  bandwidth and power problems especially in
  institutions in rural areas.
• Inequities in IT deployment between urban and
  rural schools and between public and private
  schools with regards to availability of IT
  personnel and resources.

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Challenges facing IT Deployment in the Nigerian
Education System (contd)

• The curricula generally have not been digitized
  and IT curricula at various levels are mostly
  obsolete in view of the highly dynamic nature of
  IT. In addition, integration of IT into existing
  curricula is barely in its infancy.

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• The New Education System

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The New Education System

• IT has reshaped the educational system in favour
  of a more ubiquitous, engaging and peer-based
  learning approach.
• Several countries have already embraced the new
  paradigms of education delivery that IT has
  introduced.

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Features of the New Education System

• The features of the new system include
• Greater emphasis on the learning rather than on
  the teaching getting away from information
  stuffing and realizing the value of direct
  understanding and engagement, discovery work,
  exploration, opportunity to make lots of mistakes
  and interaction with experts and peers.

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Features of the New Education System

• The role of the teacher has changed from the
  source of knowledge to that of a guide, a coach,
  an adviser and facilitator and the learner has
  transformed from a passive actor to an active
  leader in his personal life-long learning path.
• Ease of access to a great wealth of information.
• Networking and teamwork with other learners of
  similar interests irrespective of age, location
  or experience.

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The New Nigerian Education System

• In order to ensure relevance with global
  educational paradigms the National Policy on
  Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
  in Education was developed and approved for use
  in the country. The policy focuses on
• increasing access through distance learning to
  ensure inclusion of all citizens

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The New Nigerian Education System

• enabling a knowledge network for
  students/learners facilitated by the use of IT
  for timely transmission of information and
  knowledge
• training teachers and trainers and provision of
  opportunities to complement on-the-job training
  and continuing education for teachers/trainers

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The New Nigerian Education System

• broadening the availability of quality education
  materials through effective use of network
  technologies for the design of curricula that
  best meet the needs of the students/learners and
• enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of
  educational administration and policy for
  improved quality of administration .

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• High Points of the National Policy on ICT in
  Education

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VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT

Vision ICT-furthered Education engaging,
enriching, empowering, and enabling. Mission To
meet the human resource requirements of the
nation for attaining and enhancing sustainable
socio-economic development, global
competitiveness as well as the individuals
ability to survive in a contemporary
environment.
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OBJECTIVES OF IT IN EDUCATION

• To facilitate the teaching and learning
  processes.
• To promote problem-solving, critical thinking and
  innovative skills.
• To promote life-long learning.
• To enhance the various teaching/learning
  strategies required to meet the needs of the
  population.
• To foster research and development.

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OBJECTIVES OF IT IN EDUCATION (contd)

• To support effective and efficient education
  administration.
• To enhance universal access to information.
• To widen access to education and the range of
  instructional options and opportunities for any
  where, any time, any pace and any path learning.

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POLICY THRUST

• Government shall
• build and encourage the development and
  sustenance of the IT manpower required to achieve
  an IT-furthered education
• establish and sustain a common IT infrastructure
  platform for education and encourage the
  development of a National Education and Research
  Infrastructure (NERI)
• ensure and encourage IT Research and Development
  (RD)

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POLICY THRUST (contd)

• engage in and encourage regular stakeholder
  consultations, sensitization of the learning
  community, public awareness and
  inter-governmental relations to achieve a
  broad-based consensus on IT in education
• provide appropriate legal, regulatory and
  security framework to ensure that IT in Education
  and the conduct of related activities are focused
  on achieving IT-furthered Education and

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POLICY THRUST (contd)

• adopt creative financing models for IT in
  Education.

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• Next Steps

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Next Steps

• Printing and circulation of copies are on-going.
• The development of the Implementation Strategy
  for the policy has been approved. Work will
  commence in July 2011
• Implementation

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Critical Success Factors

• Strong visionary leadership and political will
• Adequate funding
• Highly qualified IT professionals
• Effective change management strategy
• Effective programme management and coordination
• Appropriate legal and regulatory framework

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Critical Success Factors

• Societal appreciation of the need for IT in
  Education development
• Education and training of the inservice and
  pre-service teachers
• Effective monitoring and evaluation

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Conclusion
IT has been proven to be the tool for rapid
transformation of education and capacity
building. However, there are many challenges
that must be tackled before the advantages of IT
can be fully harnessed. Success in this endeavour
depends on the involvement and contribution of
all stakeholders to this common goal.
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Thank You and God Bless
School