For a nation that has come to this realisation, too little is being done about fostering effective STEM education in Nigerian schools. A few months ago, the Minister of Education, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu announced plans to teach STEM subjects in native languages in traditional classrooms. This move is intended to boost students’ interest in STEM, however, in this age and time, this proposed solution is disappointing.Yet, it is just one of the many cases where fickle solutions have been applied to grave problems in the Nigerian educational system.

Students generally struggle to comprehend abstract concepts that are taught in classrooms. Only a few schools provide functional laboratories and other facilities that can make learning truly engaging. And because students in the digital age are visually active — thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and other gadgets — reading long pages of text and listening to long lectures have become boring for many.

Interventions like giving out computers or tablets to schools alone cannot tackle this problem. However, immersive learning can to a large extent.

According to Judith Okonkwo, founder of Imisi 3D, a virtual reality (VR) creation lab in Yaba, “Virtual reality is the one thing that has the greatest potential to completely transform the historic challenges we have had around education”.

In a classroom where students are restricted by walls and resources, employing virtual reality can create an immersive environment that can completely redefine learning. According to Adam Stone, “With a 3D, immersive experience, we can for the first time “be there” without being there. We can “handle” objects without touching them.”

In many Nigerian classrooms where there are hardly any learning materials to touch and students do not explore, the benefits of VR  cannot be overemphasised.

With VR and relevant content, students can understand abstract concepts better when they are visually represented. Hands-on experiments in controlled environments that are impossible to coordinate in real life situations can also be made possible. From dissecting a cockroach or a lion in a virtual lab to travelling the world, nothing will be impossible.

VR can also improve learning outside STEM courses as students generally learn best by being actively involved.


I had a few primary school students try out “Three Pigs” — a short interactive VR story– with the Google Cardboard, and they all enjoyed being part of the story which allowed them to search for different characters on their own. Chizoba, an SSS 3 student was awed to finally get a visual idea of space after trying the “Solar System” app on the Google Cardboard.

Cleary VR has the potential to totally revamp the education system, and it turns out that it doesn’t require huge financial investment. “The cost is not as much as people would assume,” says Judith whose company is currently piloting a ‘VR for Schools’ project in Yaba

With a low-cost VR headset like the Google Cardboard, a VR ready mobile phone, mobile broadband, and the right content, you have an all-in-one learning solution that can be deployed anywhere — even in IDP camps,” she adds

What should be done?
VR is currently the best shot at providing quality education to all students. As with most edtech initiatives, it will require partnership with relevant stakeholders. The government, instructors, VR developers, and entrepreneurs all have a role to play.

Creating unique content for the Nigerian educational system will involve furnishing individuals with the required skills as well as getting local education content producers involved. Currently, Imisi 3D is building AR/VR communities to ensure this can be achieved and is also offering free scholarships for the Udacity VR developer Nanodegree. Efforts like this can and should be supported and replicated.

Quality education is now within the reach of every Nigerian child. It is time to embrace virtual reality in the classroom.

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Despite rapid technological changes that have transformed the way we live and work; Nigerian classrooms have remained resistant to this change.

Recently, Silicon Valley’s celebrated style of learning was validated by a research that proved personalised learning more effective than the traditional model of education.  Personalised learning recognizes that all children are unique, hence learning in the classroom, will progress at different rates.

It involves the use of interactive software and other digital technologies to tailor instruction to each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and preferences, thereby ensuring that students can learn at their own pace. But the concept of personalised learning isn’t exactly new; the Montessori method of education developed by  Maria Montessori in 1907 also emphasizes a child-centered approach to education where learning is self-directed.

Montessori education is said to be better than traditional school methods.  According to  Dr. Tina Udoji, an educationist, the Montessori method can save Nigeria’s education. However, in Nigeria, Montessori schools are typically more expensive and less common than regular schools and very few of them practice what they preach. This has limited the reach of self-directed learning to students in classrooms.

But today, with technology, especially with the proliferation of digital devices, one-on-one learning can become more accessible to students.

Why we should be thinking personalised learning
There is no doubt that the Nigerian education system is in dire need of a redress. Today schools are faced with many problems including, a  lack of skilled and passionate teachers, outdated curriculum, ill-equipped facilities that house more students than they should and much more. The result of our failing education system is evident; 70% of graduates from tertiary institutions are unemployable.

The calculated use of technology in schools may be the only chance to revive this crumbling system. As the world moves on to a new phase of learning, it is pertinent that Nigeria is not left far behind.

“We are all aware of what is happening in the education sector, but nobody is doing anything about it. No serious nation jokes with investing in its human capacity building,” says Dr. Bongo Adi, a specialist in development economics and a consultant to the World Bank.

In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscillia Chan announced in a letter to their daughter that 99% of Facebook’s shares will be donated to causes that will better society, and personalized learning is one of these causes. Facebook also has a team of engineers working with local educators and schools to improve the classroom experience.

Recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative jointly funded a $12 million initiative to improve personalised learning in the classroom.

What is the big lesson? Personalised learning holds promises that should also be explored here in Nigeria too. This will require effective collaboration between educators, software engineers, entrepreneurs and the government, rather than the usual disjointed efforts we have witnessed. While we have seen some efforts by startup, companies, and people to boost edtech in Nigeria, we are simply not doing enough.

Attention must be paid to the education sector with tech entrepreneurs piloting practical solutions to the problems in the education sector and investors — who can simply be well-meaning Nigerians with the financial capacity funding these solutions.  Schools and teachers should be open to exploring and adopting technology.

Also, access to basic infrastructure like power and the internet cannot be ignored, and the government must create favorable policies that will fuel collaboration and growth.

Considering the huge capital and human investments required to make this move and all the present challenges with edtech in the country, we cannot expect change to happen overnight. Yet we must begin to take bold steps to consciously create our own future.

Perhaps a personalised learning summit –with feasible goals,  involving all the relevant stakeholders is a good place to start.

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It is the dream of many secondary school students in Nigeria to gain admission into an institution of higher learning immediately after school, but not for Samson Goddy. After completing his secondary education at 16, he decided to take a break from school. In his words, “I wanted  to prepare myself as a computer scientist by learning the fundamentals and I didn’t think I would achieve this in school considering the way Computer science is taught in Nigerian Universities”

Samson had been part of the One Laptop Per Child(OLPC) programme and the OLPC/ Schlumberger Excellent in Education Development (SEED) workshop in secondary school that exposed him to the digital world, technology, and programming. He soon started contributing to open source projects via Sugarlabs and got the opportunity to participate in the Exposure Robotics Academy in 2013.

His time away from school certainly paid off. Today the 18-year-old who is still planning to get his degree in Computer science is a Scratch developer and educator,  a member of the oversights board of Sugarlabs, a Google Code-in mentor and a “Building African Momentum for Scratch ambassador” (#BAM4Scratch). He works with the Scratch team in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to promote the use of Scratch in Africa.

Samson, who describes himself as “a proud Nigerian who believes he can help contribute to solving the world’s problem through computation”, is currently working on a project called “Code Builders” with Olotu square in Port Harcourt that aims to close the coding gap in primary and secondary schools. He shares the story of his recent journey to Silicon Valley in this piece.

As we continue to bemoan the poor state of computer science education in the country and the seeming inability of the government to reverse this trend, Samson’s story proves that a lot can still be done outside the formal school curriculum to nurture young children with 21st century skills that they will need to become problem solvers and survive in the digital age.

So last year on our Techpoint Innovation Tour, we kept our eye open for people and organisations who are currently making impressive strides to improve IT education for young students in the South-South and South-East..

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The rate at which waste accelerates environmental degradation, especially in developing countries, is alarming. The Green Institute, an environment/people-centred organisation is on a mission to help maintain the natural environment (planet) while adding value alongside.

To achieve its mission, Green Institute infuses a unique blend, which makes it serve a dual purpose: education and healthy environment.

The process is straightforward and simple. It gives young people — from the poorest communities — the opportunity to trade their waste for a quality education.

Launched on August 17, 2015, the Ondo-based organisation has Adenike Akinsemolu as its founder and Olawuyi Damilola as the President. In addition to its educative activities, the organisation also builds social entrepreneurship.

We are committed to providing access to eco-friendly education for anyone who wants to learn fundamentals and upgrade their skills.

The Green Institute currently offers Nano-degrees (both on-site and online) with academic programs in faculties of Sustainable Science and Technology, Sustainable Business and Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Social Research and History. These faculties provide students with information and skills necessary for global development. Also, it equips learners with unlimited access to relevant educational materials.

“With Green Institute’s repertoire of seasoned and established professionals as faculty members, students are bound to have the best of learning experience,” says Adenike.

If you wish to exchange waste for education, visit the website immediately.

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In January 2016, the Nigerian Internet startup space was rocked with the news of Sim Shagaya’s resignation as CEO of eCommerce company, Konga. And as if that wasn’t enough, he appeared to make a complete exit from the company he founded in 2012, following a quiet removal as chairman of the board two years later.

As founder and CEO of one of Nigeria’s most valued eCommerce companies, Sim led Konga to what was a fairly successful showing in the Nigerian eCommerce space, overseeing as many funding rounds worth $127 million combined.

Even though Nigeria was an emerging market, Konga (with Sim Shagaya at the helm of affairs) alongside Jumia arguably led an unprecedented eCommerce boom that paved the way for the next Internet wave in Nigeria. If his return to the Internet startup space was ever anticipated, it probably is because of this very fact.

Around last year, speculations mounted around Sim going into agriculture. While that remains to be seen, the ex-Konga CEO took to his Twitter page last week to announce his new project — uLesson — which forays in the ed-tech space.

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On September 30 1999, the federal government of Nigeria, under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, introduced the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. The aim: to ensure unfettered basic education for every Nigerian child.

While this move reaffirmed the important role of education in building a vibrant economy, it also emphasised the poor state of education in Nigeria. Nigeria has continually struggled to maintain its educational standard beyond the ordinary. Regrettably, this has allowed the spirit of illiteracy creep its way into the nation.

Looking back 18 years since the UBE programme was inaugurated, the government has been the primary champion of educational reforms at the basic level. But in recent times, individuals have equally found the required motivation to step up to the challenge — especially by utilising technology.

This is the case with Gosmate, whose founders — Foladara Festus and his GF— have developed an appetite for solving the challenges of education. Their motivation stems from the perceived notion that the poor quality of education in Nigeria has more to do with the sector being understaffed.

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