By Ijeoma UKAZU
“Before the introduction of the Nigeria Learning Passport, I usually take the 6th position, however, my story changed when the digital platform was introduced in my class. Now, I am top of my class,” says Abigail Ayanleye, a primary 5 pupil.
The 9-year-old pupil of Ladoje Nursery and Primary School in Orile Agege, Lagos State attested to the fact that the learning platform has greatly helped her to learn better and understand what has been taught in class.
While expressing her excitement, Abigail adds “I was really happy when the digital learning gadgets were brought to my class, now, I am used to the platform and can navigate it without being monitored.”
Another elated pupil at Ladoje, Akindele Enoch, primary 5 reveals, “I used to score below average in mathematics but ever since the introduction of the electronic tablet in teaching, my score improved. Also, the platform has helped improve my general learning ability.”
In an interview with The Abuja Inquirer, 9-year-old Enoch further adds that the tutors online use different techniques and illustrations to explain a topic that enables pupils to understand better.
The Nigeria Learning Passport, NLP, was launched nationally in March 2022 and on September, 21st of the same year, the Lagos State government launched theirs. The NLP provides an opportunity to bridge the learning poverty gap that exists.
This initiative is in partnership between UNICEF, Microsoft, Cambridge, and the Boston Consulting Group, with the aim to bridge the digital learning gap, provide continuous access to education for students and teachers, drive improved learning outcomes through high-quality, portable education in formal and non-formal settings, enable learning in low to no connectivity areas, and deliver technical and vocational education to guarantee a brighter future for children like Abigail and Enoch and ensure that they have access to best possible education, knowledge, and skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.
NLP is an online e-learning platform with mobile and offline capabilities, enabling continuous access to quality education. It is part of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s education cloud project supported by UNICEF for providing all learners with e-learning from basic to tertiary levels of education. NLP is presently accessible free on the AIRTEL telecom sim card.
In a chat with one of the teachers at Ladoje Nursery and Primary School during a field trip to mark this year’s International Day of the African Child with the theme; “The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment”, Ms. Alawiya Omowumi, a primary 3 teacher said NLP has really been of help to us including the students, adding that, “We have been able to preview our lecture and get more explanation on the topic we want to teach the next day. It gives us a more simplified explanation of each topic in our curriculum.
“Before now, students bring back their homework to school undone and usually raise concerns of not understanding the assigned work but ever since the introduction of the NLP, pupils now bring back their homework fully completed and ready for academic activities. The platform has been helpful to both the teachers, students, and parents.”
Omowumi however, complained about the internet connection being an issue and hindering connectivity most times. “At times, we might want to connect but we would discover that only five tablets are working because of the poor network.”
The UNICEF Education Specialist, Babagana Aminu explained that the Lagos government in collaboration with IHS Towers –an infrastructure company that established towers across Nigeria to provide mobile connectivity and internet broadband has connected 150 public schools in Lagos, and through Airtel, we have provided over 1300 tablets and over 100 projectors, stating that “Ladoje is one school among 50 schools that are deploring learning passports and also received this support of tablets and projectors and the Airtel router and we intend to expand to more schools by 2023”.
Aminu further adds that the NLP provides an opportunity for children to learn, pointing out that, it is a digital learning platform that provides free access to learning content that aligns with the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council, NERDC curriculum.
“The learning passport can be deployed online and offline. This is one of the uniqueness of the learning passport. It can be deployed in hard-to-reach areas and in communities where an internet connection is not possible.
“Then there is an offline device which is a supercomputer in a box, that box contains all the content that is on the learning passport. Right now, there are about 15,000 different lessons such as; English, mathematics, basic science, basic technology, computer science, digital literacy, professional soft skill, and vocational training including business studies, biology, and chemistry. These content are both in English language, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. This is to provide children of different backgrounds with the contents that they can be able to consume.”
In the next few weeks in Nigeria, Aminu adds, the team would start deploying the gadgets in 150 schools to demonstrate how offline learning can be achieved. “We know that today, data is very expensive, UNICEF in our shared value partnership with Airtel, has whitelisted the learning passport which means that Airtel users anywhere in Nigeria have absolute free access to the platform. You do not need to purchase data, just have an Airtel sim card and a smart device, log into the learning passport on; nigeria.learningpassport.org. Whether in an iPhone or an Android, you would be able to use it using the Airtel line. This move is to avail families who are not able to purchase data have learning opportunities.”
The Director, Policy, Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Education Dr. Adejare Afolabi adds that “As you can see, the teachers who taught the children used the NLP platform. With the current trend now, children need to be attuned with ICT which would help them connect to the world. You would notice that children learn better when they are using ICT gadgets.”
With complaints about not having enough tablet devices, Adejare adds that in Lagos alone, “we have about 2000 schools and you would agree with me, it would require a lot of funds to be able to cater for every child with the ICT gadgets. However, every teacher in our primary school has a tablet to teach and that is a plus for the government. In secondary schools, it is the same. They have personal laptops they use and are accompanied by ICT labs for their learning purpose. We are not only focused on urban communities; we have a criterion for distributing digital gadgets.”