Thinking of how technology has influenced a whole lot of things in the world, it's fair to say that education is yet to join the party properly, especially in third-world countries.
We have seen some positive differences in how schools are managed, school buildings, and school facilities, but the core purpose of going to school hasn't changed much, and I feel like that's a problem if we are being realistic.
The current educational model, which has always been the traditional system, is no longer very effective in today's world because so many things have changed. It used to be effective then, but not in this digital age, the traditional system now does nothing more than prepare students for a world that no longer exists.
Now, students need to be prepared for real-life problems, but that's not happening because school curriculum hasn't changed in decades and education is all about going to school, writing notes, writing tests, and exams. In the end, you get promoted from one class to another and nothing more. Aside from how the education system has failed to improve, the stress of schooling in Nigeria isn't from this world, and in the end, you will realize that there is only little revelance in what you learned in school compared to the real test out there.
Reducing the stress for students can help them focus on studies properly, assimilate better, and even put their acquired knowledge to work instead of just coming to classes every day to listen to lectures, go home to do assignments, and return to school the next. It is even more annoying to know that a lot of students today have to pay enormous fees to acquire knowledge just to catch up with what's happening in the real world, and it makes me ask why we paid so much for tuition fees in the first place.
Even though we haven't been to the western world, we see in movies what education looks like. Students go to school with few books, and learning is very flexible, unlike here, where we have to carry 8 textbooks in our bags every day, and yet, a lot of students can't show anything for it. It's no new thing that kids who go through less stress studying are even the ones doing pretty well in the real world, so what's holding us back from embracing smart education?
I have so many changes in mind that our education sector needs if we really want to prepare students for the real world test and would wish we could see these changes manifest.
I believe that in this age and time, students assessments shouldn't end with just written examinations. While in school, there used to be a guy who barely passed exams, but when it comes to practicals, even the lecturer won't dare him. A lot of people were happy passing examinations and piling up GP until we got there and discovered that we were taught with 90s curriculum when technology wasn't much of a thing.
Many struggled in the real world and had to change professions, while the guy with the low GP even has a tech company now. I believe school examination grades have nothing to do with the real world anymore, and yes, students can still take them, but that shouldn't be the core assessment.
If examinations would be used for student assessments, it should be something more than just writing down what we have crammed. Real-life problems should be brought to class as tests; students should do project-based assessments, and of course, using their smart phones won't make a difference because it's a real-time problem/practical, and using AI won't help solve these problems.
The new system definitely has to focus on discovering and helping students improve on being creative. Students will be able to handle critical thinking, which will aid their problem-solving ability when facing a real-time problem. It wouldn't just be about being able to tackle things they were taught in class. It would even be a lot better if students could be part of real-time projects where they could learn practicals rather than theories.
I have seen how virtual reality works and believe it can also be inculcated into the system. Students can work on projects virtually, and teachers can assess them better that way. We just need to dump the note-writing and theory examination routines for something that would really prepare students for the real world.
All of these things won't come cheap, but aren't parents paying enough already?
Imagine a preschool pupil paying over $100 just to sit and sing rhymes. Paying the tuition fee isn't cheap anymore, and I have said it times without numbers that schools are just extorting parents because they are not doing what they are paid for. Gone are the days when acquiring knowledge was about learning English or history.
Things are different, and it's time for schools to prepare students for the real world test because that's the only way they can justify the enormous fee they charge every term or semester.
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