Since the government declared a lockdown and made it compulsory for students to go on a break, it became a concern on how students would learn and not lag behind in their studies. In this report, FAVOUR BOLUWADE writes on how students and educators have utilised the digital methods, the challenges involved and the plans of the ministry of education towards resumption.
OMOLARA Omojola is a final year student of Ekiti State University. She ought to have graduated already but the COVID-19 pandemic has aborted that plan.
She told Saturday Tribune about her frustration: “I have not been feeling okay. We were on two weeks strike before the COVID-19 lockdown. Even after coronavirus is gone, we still have to wait for ASUU to call off its strike. I can’t wait to graduate. I want to move to the next level. I was already thinking of national youth service. I thought I would put campus life behind me this year but it is not even looking like it. The academic halt is really sad.”
Opeyemi Osatoyinbo from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, also in his final year, said it has been a drag staying at home and being virtually in the same space for too long.
He said: “I have been at home and it has not been really easy having nowhere to go because of the lockdown. I read when I can though and watch movies when I am bored. The course outline for school work I have, honestly, forgotten. I only remember the courses I picked; because as of the beginning of the lockdown, I had just resumed my final semester and hadn’t done anything, really. The halt in academics hasn’t been easy; I miss my friends and the campus.”
Tolu Ilesanmi also said it was annoying because she had hoped to graduate this year. She is also in her final year in Bowen University, Iwo.
“I was supposed to graduate this semester but I am not even sure how the calendar would go this year. The online classes and examination have been annoying too because of the network problem we face.
“Sometimes people don’t have data to be online and attendance is usually taken. By the time they are back online, it is either the classes have ended or the attendance has already been taken, she said.
“The COVID-19 stay-at-home break has been of help to us, students, because we have learnt a lot of skills, including online businesses, website designing and binary trading.” Those were the words of Ohaeri Chinaemerem, who is studying Civil Engineering at Michael Okpara University in Abia State.
He said he wanted to resume as quickly as possible because of the need to refresh his memory academic-wise.
Online classes
“Mummy data will finish soon and my classes will start soon” was the noise in the background when Mrs Ayodele was called via WhatsApp earlier in the week. Saturday Tribune inquired if she had not been stressed out having her children at home all the time and if the learning methods had been effective for them. She said it had become a major duty to keep her children, who are in secondary schools and tertiary institutions, on their toes so they do not become academically handicapped.
She said: “My children have to keep learning by any means possible.” As a result of this Mrs Ayodele said she had to keep spending money on data because of the online classes that started since March.
I want to write my external certificate exams soon so I can move forward – JSS3 student
According to Lolade Kolade from Faith Academy in Lagos State, she wished lockdown had come to an end because as a result of it, she hasn’t written her junior secondary examinations.
She stated that, “I would have been rounding off my junior certificate examination, so this academic halt, caused by COVID 19 has not made me happy at all. By now, I would have been done with my JSS3 internal and external examinations; although I have more time to read and relax.”
Network issues affect online classes sometimes but technology has helped nevertheless. Kolade added that the online classes have been helpful but some miss out because they do not have access to data.
“I know the halt has cost our teachers a lot too; they always have to buy data to teach us online, but network really affects the classes sometimes and we students sometimes miss out. The online classes have really helped,” she concluded.
Omonike Deborah, who is also rounding off with secondary school spoke to Saturday Tribune about how the situation has affected her and fellow students positively and negatively.
She said, “COVID-19 has given every student either in secondary schools or tertiary institutions a draw back in their academic year; my siblings and I have however used this blessing in a disguise to read ahead and study what have not yet been taught by our teachers.”
But she also disclosed that some students are not happy about their present situation, working day and night, doing chores at home with parents who keep telling them to stay off their phones and should only read or attend classes with it.
“Thankfully,” Miss Omonike continued, “technology has proven to be a blessing to most students. Schools have organised online classes that allow easy formal educative sessions between students and their teachers. However, some tertiary institutions like that of my brother’s have not taken this step but are still pondering on what to do to help prevent their students from lagging behind.”
“Law school has a bulky syllabus so we have lectures everyday”
Oriyomi Fapuro who was in Law School in Kano State before the lockdown said that lectures were still ongoing and that lockdown hasn’t affected them at the law school.
She said: “Our lectures still go on throughout the week and we have the mails in case classes were missed by any of the students. I remember my entire course outlines because of the way law school is; we have to keep up. We have to be prepared for whatever will come our way.
Generally, for the law school we are taking classes since we have bulky outlines.
Another law school student who agreed she was happy at first to have a break but she got tired staying at home.
Kayode Funmilayo said, “I am used to staying at home since I am not usually outgoing. I miss the fact that you can just step out but now everyone is laying low trying to manage money. We have been having class everyday and I have to read my books every day.”
‘I want to complete my masters program soon’
Titiloye Samuel said she had a faint idea of the content of outlines since she has stayed home for so long starting from when ASUU commenced their strike at the University of Ibadan.
Miss Samuel added that “my eagerness to resume is basically so that I can finish my MSc program on time.”
Students, teachers should not expect any holiday once academic activities start.
Mr Adewumi, vice principal, administration of Omoluorogbo Grammar School, Akure, Ondo State, said he was not comfortable with closure of schools as a result of COVID-19 because of the effect it had on the students. But he attested that it was a good decision by the government as it helped in the spread of the killer virus.
He added: “It has not been possible for most schools to go on digital lessons because of the cost. The FG and some states have tried by opening avenues for students to be taught digitally through designated websites. There is also time allocated on radio and television for teaching but all these measures have their peculiar challenges, such as irregular power and lack of money to buy data.
“It will only have grand effect on SS3 students writing their final exam. Their exams have time limit because they will use the results for admission into higher institutions by September or October. But for other streams the session will be extended so as to complete the syllabus.
“We couldn’t reach some of them for lessons but sent messages to parents to encourage them to read and also make use of the avenues government has provided.
“School administrator and teachers should be prepared for the challenges ahead when schools resumes because they have to put in extra work so as to complete the syllabus.”
Adewumi advised that students should continue to study at home and always follow lessons on radio, TV and those who can afford data should download websites so as to be able to access lessons on those sites. He also said that students and teachers should make up their minds that there would be no holidays for sometime after.
“We want parents to pay a token to contribute to this digital learning”
Mrs Seun Boluwade, director of a private school in Ota, Ogun State, stated how her school closed down since March when government imposed the lockdown but lamented that it was challenging because some of the parents were defaulting in payment.
“We had to pay March and the next month’s salaries because we didn’t want to lose our teachers. And the thread of teaching needed to continue so we could start online classes. We have tried to make parents understand the data usage, efforts and commitment the teachers have put in making it a reality. So, what the teachers do is send voice notes, recordings, snap notes and other things just to make things work out; hence we have implored the parents to pay a token for this cause.
“It is also challenging for students in certificate classes, very pathetic, because they have to be on hold. We just hope the government will think of better ways to make sure the lockdown is somehow eased so that private and public schools can resume.”
On their preparation for resumption even if the lockdown was called off, she said they had put things in place in compliance with directive of the ministry of education.
Mrs Boluwade said, “A form was sent to us the other time asking us how we would ensure compliance with the regulations on how to maintain social distancing, fumigating the school before resumption and we stated how we would do that. As it stands now, we are hoping that we resume very soon.”
The learning methods have been effective in Oyo State – SUBEB chairman
Dr Nureni Adeniran, chairman of the State Universal basic Education Board (SUBEB) told Saturday Tribune the state government had advertised before the programme started across the 33 local governments in Oyo state through UBE.
Adeniran said, “We organised the on air program and it has been running smoothly from Monday to Saturday in Oyo State. The commissioner had sent timetable of when classes will start and end. The precautionary measures to put in place at the end of lockdown have been outlined but that will be determined by the instruction of the government. We use BCOS and Ajilete radios for the teaching and we ensure the school teachers are the ones in charge; for secondary and tertiary we use the online training but radio mainly for primary school. When we resume, we believe the students would be familiar with their syllabus already.”
Actions from the Ministry of Education
The ministry of education have continued to follow up in the thread of keeping students up with the third term syllabus despite the lockdown, a representative of the ministry of education who chose to be anonymous told Saturday Tribune about this.
She also explained that the on-air and online teaching methods have been effective since the lockdown commenced.
In conclusion, she said “resumption will be allowed when schools have followed precautionary measures such as having sanitizers on ground, and water to wash hands. It is still likely to resume this year if all the means have been put in place. Junior and senior certificate examinations are expected to be hold once the lockdown is called off.”
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