The story
catalogues the challenges that erupted out of the disruption caused by
the coronavirus pandemic, the fears and frustrations brewed by the new
abnormality foisted on the world, the pessimism that pervaded the globe
from developed to underdeveloped countries and the possibilities that
blew up in the aftermath in the education stratosphere.
With
the new order of social distancing, self-isolation, government-enforced
quarantine and the ubiquitous lockdown, the prospect of indefinite stay
at home until at least an elusive vaccine is found, loomed. This
precipitated a distress as never seen before in the education space.
Yet,
a panacea was at hand: Digital learning, though hitherto given scant
attention. But crossing into that nirvana was an uphill task,
especially, in this part of the world. Why: The existence of a huge
digital deficit both in infrastructure and the requisite skill. The
dilemma confronting parents, pupils and tutors are multi-dimensional as
illustrated by these three vignettes from the story:.
Leadership Newspaper
The
rabbit hole of uncertainty, confusion and fear that pupils and their
parents fell into in the dying days of March when the country was in
lockdown was best captured in a Saturday Sun feature of May 16, titled,
“COVID-19: Troubles of e-Learning.”
The
story catalogues the challenges that erupted out of the disruption
caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the fears and frustrations brewed by
the new abnormality foisted on the world, the pessimism that pervaded
the globe from developed to underdeveloped countries and the
possibilities that blew up in the aftermath in the education
stratosphere.
With the
new order of social distancing, self-isolation, government-enforced
quarantine and the ubiquitous lockdown, the prospect of indefinite stay
at home until at least an elusive vaccine is found, loomed. This
precipitated a distress as never seen before in the education space.
Yet,
a panacea was at hand: Digital learning, though hitherto given scant
attention. But crossing into that nirvana was an uphill task,
especially, in this part of the world. Why: The existence of a huge
digital deficit both in infrastructure and the requisite skill.
The dilemma confronting parents, pupils and tutors are multi-dimensional as illustrated by these three vignettes from the story:
Oko
Odinakachi, a student of Abia State University, faced frustration on
two fronts: her institutions dillydallying about adopting the e-learning
strategy on the one hand; her little faith in digital learning, on the
other hand. “I was on the verge of writing my first-semester
examination. How possible can we do that digitally when there are issues
with even JAMB CBT here in our country?”
A
father whose daughter, a student of Federal Government College Shagamu
preparing for her Senior School Certificate Exam, was compelled to seek a
suitable e-learning portal because WAEC advised students to be studious
during the lockdown as they’d be going straight into the exam hall at
short notice as soon as the pandemic is over. The search led him to an
online WAEC Preparatory Class that demanded payment for requisite online
resources. “One subject is N1, 500, four subjects N4, 500 and six
subjects cost at N6, 500. I didn’t go further because of the fee, which I
think is exorbitant, given the current state of the country,” he
complained. He joined the rank of other parents who raised concerns over
exploitation by mercenaries masquerading as e-learning groups.
Abolade
Kunle, a JSS3 student was aware of the government-sponsored tutorial on
the radio but he was unable to enjoy the benefits: “We don’t have a
radio set in the house. I use my dad’s phone once in a while but he
doesn’t allow me to use it all the time,” he railed. A related drawback
was cited by one of his teachers at the public school in Mushin: “In the
past five weeks, we have had barely three days of electricity supply.
It is not every parent that can afford a generator. Is it not when you
have electricity supply that the children can watch [government
educational programme on] the television?”
The
absence of curative or prophylactic breakthrough against the virus
meant that academic activities would remain in limbo, while pupils and
their parents are faced with the undaunted possibility of a long spell
at home. The prospect of a long lull of academic inactivity struck a
palpable fear that fueled the scramble unto digital learning platforms
as educationists and institutions across the country experimented with
remote learning, albeit on a trial-and-error basis. The efforts were at
best tangled; the process muddled; the result ineffective. Even, for
students of tertiary institutions, the online class was to many a
Lala-land.
With the
option inevitably narrowed down to digital learning, a Catch-22
situation evolved. Who’s going to make it happen? How? When?
Best foot forward
Eventually, the first foot forward––and indeed the best one––came and it was from First Bank Nigeria Limited.
The
bank, a leading financial inclusion services provider, announced its
intention to roll out an innovative e-learning initiative on the heels
of its philanthropic contribution of the sum of one billion naira to the
Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), a private-sector task force that
partners the Federal Government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to combat the coronavirus
in Nigeria.
In the
months to come, the bank’s effort would resonate forcefully in the
education space. The reason for this was not farfetched. Since
responsiveness remains a cornerstone of Corporate Social Responsibility,
when it is timely, it becomes a major coup. The severity of the
pandemic required “uncomfortable, transformative responsiveness,” not
the usual CSR response where organisations choose and design
responsiveness on their own terms, described by Wayne Visser in
Evolution and Revolution of Corporate Social Responsibility, as “when
giving is easy and cheque-writing does nothing to upset their commercial
applecart.”
Taking on
the e-learning challenge head-on was an self-assigned project for which
the bank was not under any compulsion to undertake. That it volunteered
to tackle the challenge is an indication of the largeness of its CSR
aorta.
Suffice to say
that a handful of digital learning initiatives exist before the advent
of the Covid-19 lockdown; the First Bank effort, however, resonates
louder because it has a measurable stated goal: Moving one million
pupils into e-learning platform.
A
response apt and adequate Lagos State’s prompt response to the pandemic
included the immediate shutdown of schools. By March 25 (four days
before Lagos State went into total lockdown on the order of the
President), the First Bank initiative was rolled out, and it inalienably
took the optics of “the” response to the glitch caused to the education
system by the coronavirus pandemic.
First
Bank went into collaboration with Lagos State Government and an
indigenous mobile learning platform, Robert and John Limited, whose
trademark Roducate e-solution, a comprehensive curriculum-based
education, is a cornucopia for a broad spectrum of students.
Having
powered similar projects in the past, Robert and John was an obvious
best in the e-learning business, a fact reinforced by First Bank CEO,
Adesola Adeduntan: “In searching for the best fit solution, several
options were considered by educators and teachers from the state and
First Bank over the last couple of weeks before adjudging Roducate the
offering from Robert and John, an innovative technology firm, to be the
best of all reviewed.”
Is
Roducate the Rosette stone of online learning? The facts were in its
favour. Its claim of being the “most comprehensive e-learning platform
in Nigeria and indeed Africa” is justified on its curriculum-based
education for primary, secondary, and tertiary students. Moreover, ;it
has been active in the e-learning space as far back as 2014 and has
perfected the mechanics of effective digital learning, winning
endorsements along the way from NUC, NERDC, JAMB and Lagos State
Ministry of Education.
And
by tweaking its blueprint, it came up with an e-learning mother
lode––lecture notes, assignments, mock exams, videos, podcasts, and
educational games––a rich vein of contents for primary, secondary and
tertiary institutions, structured in consonance with the
government-accredited curriculum. From the interactive tutorial videos
to the innovative feature that enables the learner to take notes for
quick reference, it was a whole new experience and an enjoyable learning
process.
Suffice to
reiterate that the First Bank/LASG Roducate is not the first of its
kind; before it, there was Glo Mobile Tutor (since 2014) and UBA LEARN
(unveiled in 2018) amongst others. However, certain factors gave it an
edge.
The comparative advantage
The
CSR takeaways from the initiative are writ large in what makes it
different from others––in other words, its comparative advantages.
On
the first count, the effort surfaced at a time of need, a time when
there was an urgent need to close the gap caused by the disruption in
children education due to schools closure following the Covid-19
lockdown. In one fell swoop, a solution materialised that provided
succour for all, from kindergartens kids to grad-year students of
tertiary institutions.
Secondly,
while it is indeed a rolling scheme, it nevertheless came with specific
number goal of one million pupils to be empowered with digital
learning; this calibrated objective makes the intervention easy to
evaluate, compared to other similar initiatives.
Thirdly, the biggest boon: subscription-free.
Consider
what this means to parents such as the one cited in Sun story who had
to shell out approximately N6, 000 for his daughter to access the needed
resources. With the First Bank initiative, students simply get on the
platform by registering free at https://www.firstbanknigeria.com/e-learning/ .
And
then the masterstroke: the enhanced offline feature of the initiative.
It means students can study offline without having to bear the burden of
buying data. What’s more, First Bank gave further impetus by providing
20, 000 devices that came preloaded with the curriculum.
Elaborating
on the low-end devices preloaded with Roducate offline content,
Adeduntan disclosed that “the phones have SIMs and limited data tied,
only, to the Roducate learning product.”
Kayode Abayomi, the spokesperson for Lagos State Ministry of Education, further hit the nail on the head.
“The
devices are efficient and fit for purposes for all students especially
indigent students given the fact that data consumption of most
e-learning solutions has been a major stumbling block for the majority
of students and teachers alike,” he said.
Its
fourth edge is from its collaborative nature. One of First Bank’s
collaborators on the project is a partner with leverage in the education
space: the Lagos State Government. That made a big difference, as it
gave the initiative authority and legitimacy that immediately gained
traction.
In return, the
initiative was well-appreciated by Lagos State Governor Sanwo-Olu: “It
is not out of place that we are witnessing more infusion of technology
in learning and this intervention by First Bank could not have come at a
better time.”
Lastly, the First Bank e-learning
project took care of both the short-term and the long-term interest of
Nigeria in the digital race. Beyond the exigency of the moment, which
was to get the children into learning mode, the intervention took on the
imperative of helping young Nigerians develop relevant skills in
emerging technologies, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in the
interconnected world of today.
How?
Via two other initiatives, both partnerships with IBM (that schooled
youths in coding Artificial Intelligence, cloud, internet of things,
blockchain, data science, analytics and cybersecurity) and Curious
Learning (which offers academic contents for pre-learning and
early-stage children aged 3-8 through self-guided learning apps). These
two threw open the door of digital technology and made available for
free the opportunities to transform them into tech geeks.
Taking responsibilities
For
organisations with a sense of CSR, Covid-19 was an opportunity that was
too good to miss. Where and how they responded depend on their
preexisting corporate responsibility culture, their focus, the heft of
their commitment.
Adeduntan
said of the First Bank initiative: “We are warmed by the fact that
different organisations have risen to the various challenges and are
supporting in areas such as health and welfare, and we feel the peculiar
needs of our children and youth must not be left out and have therefore
elected to focus on contributing to solving the current education
challenge.”
He said
further: “It is a responsible approach to empower them, given that they
are our future and the foundation to build our country to greatness. By
partnering on this, we are solving a problem for families and our
future.”
In September,
schools re-opened, and education activity, deflated for months,
gradually regains shape and gathers momentum. The number of students
enrolled on the platform has increased significantly. The big question:
is it going to be one of those projects that got abandoned after the
ovation died down? Or is it likely to be sustained?
The
cue is in the stated goal of the initiative. FirstBank has placed on
itself the onus to continue to build on the effort and to give the
needed impetus that will accelerate the achievement of the set goal of
1,000, 000 registered children in record time. It is expected that First
Bank will sustain the race to the finishing line.
Leadership
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