By Abubakar Musa Umar
The United Nations General Assembly set aside 24th January for the celebration of Education across the globe ,this year’s theme is Changing the course, transforming education.
The world is celebrating Education amidst several problems bedevilling the sector especially in the third world nations that was colonized and left devastated with no clear plan for future and ownership of thought, culture, norms and mode of educating their people.
The world is still witnessing school age children that are out of school in developing nations like India, Pakistan , Afganistan, Syria and many other African nations. In the countries mentioned above there is lots of problems including the incessant insecurity, poverty , hunger and corruption coupled with the global pandemic causing school closure in the developing countries.
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In Africa and other developing nations there was little if not lack of new strategies and resources for imparting knowledge. The available techniques, strategies and innovations were either not present or not utilized in the developing nations. Teachers and teaching remain static, innovations and creativity were minimal, performance and achievement among students remained static and technological advancement was not as expected. Teaching and Pedagogical skills was not considered when employing teachers, background and social emotional issues were omitted and not taking into considerations among others. recruiting. Teachers that are not change agents are always against and discouraging colleagues from using the new methods of teaching across levels of education.
In the University, Colleges of Education, Polytechnics , Secondary and Primary Schools teacher still hold with the traditional conventional method without considering the topic, levels, context and situation. Despite number of lesson plans and pedagogical skills, majority of teachers embraced and used the traditional method. Teachers do assess their learners through examination, assignment and home work, which are one aspect of the learner’s numerous blessings. The bloom’s taxonomy was not considered when planning a lesson among others. It’s high time for developing nations to devise their teaching methods across levels of education. The various virtual learning programs should be implemented in our schools. The current mode of imparting knowledge should include the 21st century skills ; access to tools and resources, innovation and creativity, social emotional connection and most importantly the relevant curriculum application. The Implementation and utilization of the National Curriculum resources such as the National Educational Resources Department (NERDC) or States Educational resources like the Kano Education Resources Department (KERD) was one big problem bedevilling the sector and as well widening the gap already existed. According to ESSPIN scheme, a bench for a Primary 2 and 3 pupils in literacy is to read two and three letter words, reads short stories among others, unfortunately in most Public schools majority of Primary 5 pupils cannot identify letters talk less of reading a two letter words. It’s high time for us to implement Learning Program (ALP) to bridge the gap and save the innocent industry from collapse later in life. The Government must intensify efforts through partnership with private sectors, education interventions and philanthropist. The young people in our various communities deserved a better education to succeed and compete with the other children across the globe.
Abubakar Musa Umar Is an Educational Psychologist and currently a PhD candidate at Bayero University Kano.
