National Universities Commission (NUC) is set to introduce electronic education programme also known as “e-learning” in all federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
Coordinator of the e-learning Programme in University of Benin, Idon Akogun said this during the launch of the second phase of the programme in the university. E-Learning was first launched in University of Benin last year.
Akogun said “We are hoping that very soon, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) will approve such a request and bring this project to each zone of the country and show the benefits of having an international component in each of our universities.
“That way, our students cannot just leave the universities with their degrees, but have an international component to that degree; they will be able to compete with students all around the world.
“We have had letters of interest from the Ahmadu Bello University, University of Port Harcourt, University of Ilorin and Uthman Danfodio University. From there, it will be extended to other institutions around the country.”
He added that “All over our country, people play with their cell phones, they are on social media. So, we have to enhance the classroom. We cannot expect our society today to be moved by technology without our education moving in that same vein.”
He also noted that the financial cost of the project depends on the courses chosen by the participating institution.
He said “The financial cost of the project depends on the courses chosen by the participating tertiary institutions in Nigeria. If a Nigerian tertiary institution wants five courses in the sciences, it would be different from being interested in fewer courses. But what we want to achieve is to make sure that if the schools cannot afford it in the long run, the government can come in to assist the students.
“In most cases, we want each of the students that participated in week-long programme to receive a certificate of completion from the foreign university partner.”
This is an old story but of course Nigeria will not support good projects like this… can you imagine a program that enables schools abroad to connect to Nigerian institutions without the students need to travel abroad. HABA? e-Learning e-Education, e-teaching if this was sustained would Nigerian schools be looking for ways to keep students virtually during COVID-19 but instead they allowed it go and Mr. Akogun has left with his brainchild to possibly another country that valued more than his own nation. VERY SAD indeed. today everyone is fighting against #EndSARS but what we really want is #StartGoodGovernance I have followed Mr. IDON Akogun well done and God bless you for all you did and are trying to do for education in Nigeria.