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Prioritise Education Amidst COVID-19 - International Day of Education: Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation.

Words like "I just want to thank you for supporting me thus far. May God Almighty bless you... My generation would forever be grateful to you," is part of the reasons we keep at what we do in ensuring that we contribute our little quota towards educational development particularly in Nigeria.

That statement is from one of our beneficiaries. About 11 years ago, among other children, he was in JSS 2 in a rural settlement in Ekiti State where we started our outreach on education.  Today, he is a 400 level civil engineering student in University of Benin (UNIBEN), sponsored by SHADE-IN.

The truth is, when you educate a person, you educate a generation. When you deprive a person of education, you deprive a generation.

Through our previous researches, we have identified key issues in the Nigerian educational system, using some schools in Edo State as a case study.

While solving these issues has been an uphill task for the Nigerian Government, COVID-19 has posed its own challenges. Children have been at home with no satisfactory provision for their learning. Various virtual teaching methods have been employed but how sustainable have these been and what is the reach?

This year marks the third International Day of Education (January 24) and it will be marked by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Monday 25 January 2021 under the theme ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation’. Now is the time for all stakeholders to appraise efforts made so far and brainstorm on how we can help our children maximize learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

We call on the Government, Federal and States Ministry of Education to collaborate with CSOs, teachers, parents and all stakeholders to ensure that we come up with a wholistic plan to give our children maximum learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because, it is the Government that determines the laws which will either keep our children "idle" at home or fruitfully engaged.

Two times, schools resumption has been postponed. What are the measures taken by the Government to ensure our children's wellbeing and compliance with the COVID-19 protocols while schools resume. These plans should be made public if they are available. Otherwise, the essence of postponement will be defeated and there may be further postponements.

Children should be allowed to resume schools with the protocols put in place while plans are made for alternative learning if they have to stay at home subsequently.

What we are saying is that our children's education should be part of any COVID-19 plan the Government is carrying out. The Government should be willing to fund the educational system amidst this pandemic period. Education is not cheap. Prioritize education. Equip teachers. Give our children the chance to learn and enjoy learning this period and beyond.

UNESCO's findings show that two thirds of an academic year is lost on average worldwide due to #COVID-19 school closure. They stated on their Twitter handle that "Closures are impacting the most vulnerable. They must be a last resort and reopening them safely a priority." https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1353611069416206338?s=19

We celebrate all stakeholders in the education struggle, especially in Nigeria.

We pray it will be a happier international day of education from next year.

Bliss Ojeruse,
SHADE-IN.

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Comments

  1. Bliss Ojeruse25 January 2021 at 08:58

    We will be glad to know your perspectives. How can we revitalise education during the COVID-19 pandemic? We are particularly interested in Nigeria and then Edo State.

    ReplyDelete

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