 Alright thanks for staying with us. Now in recent years there has been a growing interest in digitization of education in Nigeria. This is due to the fact that technology has the potential to improve the quality of education and make it more accessible to a larger number of students. Now one of the major initiatives in this regard is the introduction of e-learning platforms and online courses. Many universities and other educational institutions in Nigeria now offer online courses which allows students to study at their own pace and form from anywhere with an internet connection. This has made education more flexible and convenient for many people who may not have been able to attend traditional classroom-based courses. So tonight we're asking what is the present and the future of digitizing education in Nigeria. Now please let's hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to us at 1-803-484-663. You can also see that it's at Weissho, I've got one on the hashtag Weissho. Alright you are already doing something with online e-learning. How is that for you and do you see it you know getting really really what's it called popular or more acceptable in Nigeria? No I think online courses or e-learning platforms are already popular in Nigeria. A lot of people are pushing it. Even universities like ABU have e-learning for masters. I have a friend who is currently taking it. She doesn't have to travel all the way to Zaria to do her masters and before you know by next year she'll be done and I think that's quite amazing and one thing that online or e-learning platforms have actually done for us is you don't have to travel so far or go to a particular location for you to take some courses or to get the certificates that you need. In the comfort of your home you can get education. Absolutely. In the comfort of your home you can gather knowledge on a particular subject matter and in a few months, in a month, in three months, one year before you know you're a professional right? Absolutely. The only downside that I see to it is when it comes to some subjects or skills that require hands-on learning where you have to be very practical. Now in cases like that obviously you cannot use e-learning platforms. You can only use e-learning for probably the theory aspect of it but where you have to be hands-on you have to build something, you have to probably do something physical that you have to be present. So those are the only downsides that I see. You are a teacher and I know that you have used especially since COVID with all the drama happening. You've used a lot of technology to be able to transfer knowledge to your students. So how has that experience been for you? Would you say that it is a lot more easier for you as now the educator or you know classroom is still preferable for you? All right. Thank you. First I would say education is a position of skill. Now if you're acquiring a skill set in that context you have to understand that whoever you are teaching you are teaching that individual to acquire a particular skill. Now where the person has challenges is where you as a teacher have not been able to deliver it using different methodologies. Okay. I have the opportunity to teach online and on site. Everything has its pros and cons of course but for older learners I would say yes. Online platform is the best tool to use but for young learners I wouldn't advise you to use online all the time for them. There should be that having where they can have a one-to-one that is having to interact with the teacher physically on site instead of being in a Zoom meeting because they have different things that can actually keep them distracted in class. You keep talking to the child and you are asking what are you doing? The child will tell you I'm with you but in after that that child might be playing games on the phone or playing games on the laptop so you have this challenge of individuals or parents not supervising that child. So yes it has its pros and of course it has its cons. For older learners online platform is the goal too. I was going to say that I'm a very kinetic learner right. I like to feel I like to touch what it is that I'm learning and I have started I don't waste money for this education matter. So I started a I started an MBA and because of the style of learning it was just going to be so funny like you know I have to do everything by myself I dropped it I started another MBA I managed to do the pre-MBA part I completed that one I dropped it. So there's a particular e-learning platform online that you know gives you the room to do a seven-day trial. So what I now did with this one I did I tested something and you know because it was too technical I by the second day I already knew that I'm not going there. But what then happened was I then took up another course and that course now I've just it's just two days I registered I've already I'm already in my week four I'm almost done with the the first module and because what I observed was because I have very very keen interest. So I think even with digitized learning right there has to be some connection because again there's nothing that you know you you are just in front of a computer so that interest must first of all be in it for you to be able to then now stay on that course if not it's difficult for you to really you know when you're not having like classmates to interact with especially if you are a kinetic learner like myself right. But let me bring in our guest. So Sharon Ecott is a self-disciplined well-organized and driven professional with a solid understanding of marketing principles and product management. She is skilled in marketing strategy planning or strategic planning and business development and overseas product development at PAVE HQ. A higher education digital ecosystem platform powering global education and career guidance for Africans and she has joined me live or joined us live in studio. Hi Sharon. By the way you look amazing. You know we met on a quick background we met on Saturday and immediately she opened them out to explain what she was doing and say I know I need you in my life because I mean for us at on this platform we try as much as possible to bring in resource for people again that we know that would impact because I'm very passionate about education right that would impact people in different ways. I mean your organization does a lot so maybe we'll start with you know first of all do you believe that digitizing education right is the way to go and do you believe it has really come to stay in Nigeria. Yes thank you very much first of all for having me I feel really honored to be here today. Yes I do think that digitizing education is very important and if we're taking way back to the COVID-19 pandemic where a lot of things were shut down and inclusive of schools and a lot of schools had to adapt to digital learning especially for their students who went either in maybe the final classes so that they don't have to be you know delayed and for a school like the university I attended Covenant University we also had to start taking a lot of courses and certification courses on Coursera Hub Sports and the likes and you know it just we were able to move ahead of that so imagine people who live in rural and marginalized areas who for that nine ten one year of their lives where literally stagnant with no growth you know so I definitely think that digitizing education is something that is here to stay especially in Nigeria these days there's so many online schools Trefort and even a lot of young people these days teenagers are building digital classrooms like of the founder of class Nathan and Wachiku who is like a 20-year-old boy and he has he's built this amazing technology to host them did online classes which a lot of big organizations like talent QL and the rest are you know part of so I definitely think that digitalizing education is the way forward especially for I mean just to make education to make education accessible flexible and I mean relevant to the need of the 21st century you know world which is so let me quickly just quickly touch on something before I'll let Jennifer and easy comment it's interesting how you know the world is changing times are changing right but do you think that if we stick to or if we truly embrace digital education right do you think that the structure of Nigeria can accommodate it because again it's one thing for us to say that this is a fantastic learning tool it's another thing for the people like you mentioned the rural areas the rural communities and all of that those people don't have access do we not see a situation where we begin to cut off you know like marginalize those people that they're not able to access education or do you think the the technology will be modified in a way that it would work with or without maybe probably internet connectivity um so I mean aside digital learning is more than you know internet connectivity it has to do with electricity because you need to power these devices that you learn on and with the current economic situation with in Nigeria especially we're dealing with the false subsidy a lot of people either there's if never doesn't give them lights it's darkness for them so in situations like that with the current uh you know with the way Nigeria is currently I don't personally think that um digitalizing education can work a hundred percent especially when you put in low income in enters into the equation you know or schools that can barely even afford a computer system so I mean I'm referring to government schools as well you know a lot of government schools are underdeveloped so underdeveloped so it's um I don't think Nigeria is ready yet for yes but I definitely think that it is a conversation that we need to start having and day by day I mean the government needs to hear us and know that it is it is the future because I mean it it caters for just about anybody I can't be a sales girl in a store but still have access to education aside the four walls of the classroom through my smartphone through the internet so I definitely think that Nigeria is on its way there but we are not just there yet awesome Jennifer yeah so I like your response to that um and I agree with you 100 percent there was also something um EC had mentioned earlier which I also agree with and it has to do with the younger learners right um I've been a teacher before and I know that there were times where I taught in class and I had some students who had to stay back because they had more questions or probably didn't understand anything that was being taught in class right there are some that I had to take extra time to teach and to put them through on on that particular subject right now when we talk about digitizing education and we want kids to start learning on e-learning platforms and joining via zoom or just going on a platform like you said like the young guy who created or maybe platforms like Lightroom for example you go there you take lessons now what about kids who don't understand immediately right kids who want you to actually give them like special tutoring because there are people who don't understand at the go right even growing up I also know that I kind of relate to what yeah who I was saying earlier I like hands-on learning right I like one-on-one learning I learn faster that way than when I have to go online to learn something right it takes me a longer time to assimilate and then process the entire thing than the average than the average person so how do we cater to young learners like that so and I think when it comes to education education is more than the one-on-one engagements that you have in a classroom to learn something even in as much as you know I would learn from what my lecturer or my teacher I said I can as well go on the internet and I can learn and you know watch videos and more interactive and practical videos so I think um aside you know the general classroom learning situation you have the internet which is an entire school on its own that you can learn just about anything and you can also engage in you know very much interactive and engaging sessions with people from you know that you don't even know strangers on the internet to discuss on certain topics and you know get more insights of them but I personally think that for the younger generation they are very they are more of visual people so making use of things that would grasp their attention and keep their attention you know keep their attention retain their attention during the class is something that should be explored on and they are not they don't have a long attentive span so you need to keep your lessons short interactive and engaging for the younger generation and I think um that way you will be able to you know get more younger people to understand however some people are listeners some people are readers like I for one amirida no matter how much you speak if I'm not reading it I really would not understand what you're saying so yes we have different styles but the thing is um not everybody I mean we can't technology can't really suit 100% of people there are some people that is to work for excellently and therefore some people that you know would struggle or one thing or the other but um the majority of people aside the younger generations we're talking about the older generations of the people who have very busy professional lives they still can get as many certifications as they want to the internet so um you know looking at it on a wider range I personally think it's still good okay all right so let's quickly run off on a break when we come back from that break we'll continue the conversation stay with us we'll be right back thanks for staying with us never just tuned in we're discussing the topic digitizing education in Nigeria we've had with us Sharon Acott now please let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an sms or what's up to zero in one eight zero three eight four six six three so I quickly want to have one small view on young learners the truth is right like you rightly said they are very visual and also they are very auditory right because if you listen to i've seen some children they've never left the shores of this country just by watching all those they are lullabies and all of that they can they speak they act they dramatize like you know the so you see the children doing all of those things so I believe that you know if the contents of the digital learning right if it is interesting enough if it can hold their attention they would learn when you were talking about attention span even us as a dog the highest video that I watch is six minutes if you don't fast like that you will lose me because the truth is that too many things is taking our attention so you literally must so what I do these days now 5 30 a.m. or before five I wake up I study till like nine a.m. so that time I'm not distracted my phone is somewhere far from me but let me come to you easy now quick hi now for me I I got something from what you said earlier when you said that we have the internet that was part on I mean there is nothing like the University of England it teaches you practically everything or anything you want to know but let's come back to digitizing the education sector in Nigeria we know that the curriculum is almost a cake because it was coined years ago if you had to give an insight into some of the things that could be tweaked in the curriculum what would you do what would you say okay didn't get also she's talking about the curriculum right that if you say you want to adopt digitizing education in Nigeria is it is the current curriculum is it easy for us to adapt to the digital platforms or we really need to like we're going to tweak it change it or modify it or put some sort of innovation to it to marry it to what we have currently in Nigeria I think that we're definitely going to modify the curriculum in Nigeria a lot of things that have been taught in classrooms these days I really don't think that the students we need in you know in practically all of their lives or they're not literally important information so I think we'll definitely need to modify it and only stick to the ones that are the ones that are more important and I you know I tend to realize that in schools these days they just they don't teach these kids things that would prepare them for life outside school exactly so a lot of them going to school with really bright ideas but they are very much confused on the next steps to take because they do not have that you know foundation on what to expect so they are lost they are confused and that is really the present situation of a lot of you know teenagers in today's world so I definitely think that the curriculum needs to be modified to cater for you know more things aside more things aside the generic courses and classes that you know we take things that cover self the skills but you know you you mentioned when we had that conversation on Saturday that you are you um your organization rather does things like that like a bridge here a big bridge on gap gap year for children you know how do you think we can adapt that you know and what exactly is it that you guys do for young children um okay so we have the gap we have the pave academy which under the pave academy we have the african tantech festival and then we have the gap year so um the african tantech festival is it's like a one day event where we get as many as thousands of teenagers with very innovative tech and tech ideas come and pitch their startup ideas and then you know get the necessary funding and mentorship to you know build this product a lot of them have really great products but they do not have that business mindset you know to push this product to market so we you know take them through that process of internships and mentorships to and you know funding as well to bring this their you know product is their idea to a product you know a product stage and then skill in the market we also you know involve schools with our school innovation challenges and um teach with tech where teachers and school you know school innovators you know can also win cash prizes to push um basically they'll just let us know like hey this is how i think using technology in my classroom can you know enhance education and learning and you know you look at the most innovative ideas and the last one we had in partnership at the focal was very insightful because you realize that a lot of teachers have so many brilliant ideas on how to use technology in their classrooms that you know could enhance learning but they do not have that tools to push this um agenda and then we also had something where we showed you know school innovators where what the 21st century classroom using technology looks like and it's a surprise people a lot of schools even um government schools are willing to you know adapt this technology in their classrooms then we have the gap year program the gap year program is a transformative um self-discovery career discovery um leadership three months program where it's basically to either hand us something or best something in these teenagers so that by the time they are going into university they are pretty much prepared to face the 21st markets um you know marketplace and basically life beyond they're not going in as teenage teenagers they're going in prepared and we personally believe that pay that you don't need to finish school so you know to be a rock star pretty much right from when you're in school you can identify your talent and you can't build on it so when you're finishing school you're finishing strong and ready to face whatever you know the workforce you know has installed so this this this initiative that you do for children are they free you know or do they come at a cost you know because again what we try to do is pass on information so that whatever it is that somebody is doing they're probably planned so it doesn't come at a cost or it is free the african 10-tech festival is absolutely free both for schools and teachers and teenagers however the gap year program goes for 18 000 so it's very very subsidized rates for the three month session and i mean aside the three months we we don't just after the three months this teenagers don't just leave us and go some of them who want to do internships we place them into companies that fit exactly what they've identified as what they want to study their lives those of them that you know want to go ahead to school we place them in universities that we know is that this course they want to study it's one of the best and you know it's in line with whatever they want to do so you know after the gap year program you know we build on in other internships or student placements for this and you also provide i i heard you say then that you also provide financial aid yes you know what i'm saying this now because we're in tough times right parents are i mean we are seeing what the the price of the dollar is looking like and parents are actually at that point where it's probably some parents but the children some children just finished work they're about to go to university and all of that so how can you help those parents you know to say okay you know what we can help with school fees payment you know apply for loans or whatever government say they want to give us loan we don't know how their structure would look like you know but i would rather i'm safer with a private organization giving me a loan for study yeah so um with pay with a paid platform um aside we have schools of as low as $600 a year so we don't just you know we don't just um going to partnerships with just high-end universities because we try to cater for just about anybody and we also offer student loans at a very discounted rate as well as um tuition payment so you can easily pay for tuition off from our platform as a very you know low rate other than what's the black market rate or you know what you would get from anywhere else so that way we're able to aid people with student loans at a very affordable interest rates with the payment plan that is beneficial based on you know where you work how much you earn we can you know um you know be able to build a payment plan for you and we will also help you know with easy tuition payment so you don't really and it's not just about it's not just so when we take a student in pav is pav is concerned about your and your entire education and career life cycle so when you get when you go abroad we are looking at okay what's the next step you need to open a bank account you need to find a place to be so we have this strategic partnerships that whenever okay we have a student going abroad so it just is like almost like making them you know settle them very nicely into the system i get you i get you so i mean so um the educational structure in i yeah go ahead quickly okay one quick one yeah what about i'm glad that you talked about what you can do for teachers or what you've been doing with teachers okay can you throw more light on how teachers can use um um technology to scale up as teachers aside from doing online courses of course how you partner in with teachers to maybe we should throw more light because i think you mentioned something around teachers yeah so what's the what's the partnership for teachers like um so the partnership for teachers is basically to provide them so a lot of teachers have really great ideas but for instance they do not have laptops to you know draft out proper costs um outline so they have to keep writing it sometimes they want to send maybe like the students on holidays and they need to you know send in hand out of things to their students but they do not have that tool to you know do that so with um with pave our parents company imperial education technology where we in partnership with replica build um devices and we give out to this teachers you know to help build on this their skills and um they are teaching with technology pretty much okay nice so talking about the gap here program um what are the requirements requirements for that um we're looking at students between 15 to 22 years old students who um for those who are around 22 years old should they already be in uni or is there any particular culture so basically i'm looking at the i'm looking at the entire school year right and how many months some of them have for holidays right i mean for students who are yet to enter university obviously they have they have the time to be able to attend for those who are currently already in university right once they have holidays sometimes there are some schools where their holidays don't pan out for like three months or probably two months or one month so how would that work for them the gap year program is it's a virtual it's a virtual program first off and it's just three times a week it's three times a week and not more than two hours so it's very flexible it's very flexible exactly and um so the way the gap year is structured in terms of our curriculum they are certain you get to pick the classes that you want to join because we don't believe in student just learning just about anything that day and we know it's not going to benefit you out of them for instance why am i learning social media management when i know it's not in line with anything i want to do so they just get to pick classes that are strictly in line with what they want to do and we are when we look at the gap when we know we talk about the gap year our idea is or you know what we do is basically for students who are about to finish for like this ss3 students who are just you know graduated and lots of them are not going to go into school immediately also some of them are not going to go to school till january so these are the people that you know that your targets exactly our target so what happens if a student has completed the gap year program and decides okay you know what i studied um project the last time and i don't think that's what i want to do is there like a provision for them to come back again to the gap year and take something else yes there's provision for free the gap here i'm not subsidized not for free since you're already in the system we ask it's a 12 weeks program right and the first the six we have six weeks for the self-discovery leadership trainings and then we have six weeks for practical career courses so obviously they would just be taking the six weeks for practical courses not necessary because i mean they've gone through that stage of the self-discovery and kaira development but then the beauty about the gap year is no matter how many cohorts you join you would definitely always be learning something new because we're not like we're going to you know we're not we're not bringing we don't bring the same um facilitators so there's always someone that is definitely going to say something different something that you felt or you know you might you might need you just might need to hear so there's always something different okay from baller blue now so what are the investment opportunities that you have any investment opportunities so for people somebody said whether they are investment opportunities is it for the for us not one invests in you people how do we invest no okay you mentioned something around if children have great um ideas for businesses you would support them you will fund them and you'll provide mentorship and business strategy um plan for the internships of them okay that works that works uh do we have comments quickly yes i have comments go ahead okay it says good evening my dear good evening my dear beautiful sisters and what are you saying hashtag wait digitizing education in Nigeria my dear beautiful sister ec made mention of two things she said that when the student is taught that student should be taught about what he or she will be in future not only for teaching side she also made mention of thorough supervision of every student so that the student will not be distracted and be focused your guest made mention of when digitizing like um education in Nigeria is introduced there should be maintenance and sustainability of it Nigerians should not start what they cannot finish let us learn how to maintain and sustain digitization for a good and quality education system my name is daniel illo ways regular thank you go ahead all right so i have a comment here that says digitizing education in Nigeria is like putting on a coat on the monkey we like to borrow or assume anything we see somewhere else without asking the right questions whether it can be proper to us in our own world in this regard i believe that what works in europe and in america cannot necessarily work in our own part of the world europe and america are more individualistic in nature and even on how they learn but we are more or less community-oriented human beings we learn more in community apart from these education should holistically education should holistic in the sense of being mental physical social and spiritual and you cannot achieve these in digital space but in the location if digitizing is the way of the world in learning europe and america would have closed all their schools it cannot work in nigeria with no lights this is from sanctus sanctus you just you don't have to dash our hope but you see anybody that knows me knows that i would have been like i'm the i'm the least person on earth that will ever say i want to go and take a course online let alone pay my money for it because i know that i will not learn it i told the people that i've spent money i've done i've dumped like four you know but i think the perfect fit would work right first of all you the person must have an interest in what it is that you're about to learn that is enough to sustain you you know learning digitally but thank you so much charon we're going to bring you more because she has a very fantastic initiative that she does for children with her NGO so we'll bring you for that one much later thank you so much thank you ec thank you jennifer now remember before we go and show you follow us across all our social media handles at waste your africa you can interact with us further drop a comment and more importantly follow all the engagements on social media like she invited family and friends to watch and follow the conversation i've you missed our quote for today here it is again um if we if you if you want to teach people a new way of thinking don't bother trying to teach them instead give them tools the the use of which will lead to a new way of thinking we'll see you guys tomorrow is our lady's night out i have so many just need to fix for tomorrow but hey we'll see you guys enjoy