Stakeholders Suggest Use Of Local Languages to Boost Digital Education

The need to integrate indigenous languages with digital education resources in promoting literacy skills in line with 21^st century expectations has prompted stakeholders in the education sector to initiate and seek public-private partnerships to boost the availability of these resources to students in Nigeria.

This was the focus of dis­cussion at the just concluded August edition of Ed-tech Monday – an initiative of Mastercard Foundation in partnership with CcHub Limited.

This virtual discussion, themed “Access to Digital Resources” featured discussants from different segments of the education sector.

Speaking during the virtual discussion held in the last week of August, one of the participant Gideon Olanrewaju noted that a lack of digital skills and in-access to digital resources were the major challenges affecting digital learning in Nigeria while developed countries had gone ahead to adopt strategies such as the flip classroom method, this in-access to digital resources has limited the adoption of forward-looking strategies that enhance the learning experience.

He said the foundation of learning which begins with comprehension skills has been affected due to failure of educators at both private and public sectors to adopt languages best understood by the students.

Olarenwaju added that if the children are unable to have such foundational skills, it would be very difficult for them to access or use the knowledge that is obtainable from digital resources.

He called on the government and educators to employ the use of indigenous languag­es in teaching students.

He further enjoined government and stakeholders to invest in community level infrastructural development to find lasting solutions to the problem of access to digital resources.

Another participant, the Digital Content and Innovation Manager at Airtel Networks Limited, Bankole Alao, noted that connectivity remained a huge barrier to adopting digital learning in Nigeria.

He said the solution to this challenge lies in the readiness of stakeholders to collaborate.

Also speaking, Kayode Akinwale, a member of Virtual Learning Teachers, noted that COVID-19 had further proved the effectiveness of technology in digital learning for students and parents.

Akinwale identified connectivity cost, poor power supply, limited understanding of digital resources by students, teachers, and cost of digital devices as major barriers that Nigeria needed to break to guarantee equitable access to digital resources for the students.