As Schools prepare for the new academic session, 2024/2025, proprietors have been urged to navigate with caution as they battle with issues concerning teachers, cost of operations, and government policies among others.
This was stated at a virtual workshop tagged: ‘Pathway for the Education Industry in the 2024/2025 Academic Session’ organized by Edumark Consult on Thursday.
Speaking at the workshop, Lead Consultant, Teammasters Limited, Mr. Rotimi Eyitayo said best ways for schools to survive and thrive with the current economic reality is for them to grant access to the factors of production as well as amplify and leverage factors of production which include land; labour; capital; entrepreneurship, resources and technology.
According to him, the current reality which include more supply than demand; increased prices; teachers’ shortage among others is heavily dependent on their responses and actions which will help navigate the reality.
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Saying that tough times are opportunities for brands to innovate, evolve and transform, Eyitayo however caution on increasing school fees as the best solution.
He added that school fees don’t make a super school rather it is super systems that makes super schools.
Speaking on government policies, Sam Obafemi, CEO, Cerca Africa in his paper told participants at the workshop that though every government around the world thrives on dividing a cluster to get their way but it is important for stakeholders to collaborate and merged forces to strengthen the education industry.
“As investors in education, you must be thinking on the same page and must be involved in socio-political conversation to help your sector,” he said.
He listed seven key ways investors in education can be involved in education policies to include: advocacy and lobbying, that is determining and being involved in the selection of people who goes for elective positions.
Others are: compliance and standardization; positive engagement within the community; innovative practice; public relations; strengthening internal structures and resources and networking across Africa.
Chief Executive Officer, Edves, Dimeji Falana from the perspective of technology encouraged participants to take technology very serious in all they do.
He urged them to make data driven decisions, move to digital core as well as getting trained on digital leadership which has to do with setting incentivized expectations; avoid user apathy and check dashboards and analytics.
A Public Relation expert and Principal Consultant, Plumptre Advisory, Yemisi Ogunlade in her paper explained to participants that having passion as an entrepreneur is great but they need structured processes and systems to build a lasting enterprise.
Teaching on how investors can navigate the reality of the current situation, Ogunlade said school business the way it is being run now is heavily people reliant; there is talent shortage; mass migration, that is, opening up of the qualified teacher status and the japa syndrome; huge operating costs and halt of tax reliefs with introduction of CITA.
She however listed possible mitigating tools to include retention, revolving door approach; control and automation; job audit; identification of key players; collaboration with other schools and deliberate hiring choices; mergers; diversification; beef up value proposition or create one; market intelligence and preparing for new pipelines.
She also urged education leaders to lead with insight; foresight and with resilience and flexibility.
Speaking on curriculum, Rhoda Odigboh, Co-Founder, The Learning Craft who spoke on the 4Es + AI Framework, stated that given Nigeria’s large and growing population, fostering entrepreneurship is crucial for creating new economic opportunities and reducing unemployment, therefore schools must focus on developing innovative thinking and problem-solving skills to create new opportunities in a competitive job market.
On implementation, she explained that it is important to incorporate project-based learning, real-world business challenges, digital, green and financial literacy into the curriculum.
For employability skills, she explained that as the job market becomes more competitive, schools must ensure that students are equipped with employability skills that enhance their adaptability and competitiveness.
“Therefore schools should focus on equipping students with the critical thinking, communication, collaboration skills necessary for success in the workplace, she said.
For implementation, the expert said emphases should be on soft skills training, teamwork; and adaptable learning strategies through interdisciplinary projects.
Speaking on Emotional and Social Intelligence (EI/SI), Odigboh said Emotional and social intelligence is becoming a core competence in the workplace, essential for leadership and collaboration.
She therefore urged schools to incorporate Social and Emotional Learning programs that teach students self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management; focus of self-regulation that will equip students with strategies to manage their emotions, stress, and conflict helping them to build resilience.
She encouraged participants to have mindset that embraces challenges, learns from criticisms, and sees effort as the path to mastery, fostering lifelong learning and adaptability.
She explained further that schools should focus on encouraging active participation in community and civic life; fostering a sense of responsibility and leadership.
Implementation, she said include service-learning projects, civic education, and opportunities for students to engage in local and global issues.
Odigboh said as Artificial Intelligence (AI), continues to transform industries, understanding and utilizing AI will be critical for future careers, therefore schools should introduce AI concept early, that is integrate basic AI literacy into the curriculum; teaching students about machine learning data analysis, and how AI impacts various industries.
She added: “Also encourage computational thinking by providing courses and activities that develop computational thinking, coding and problem-solving skill, which are fundamental for AI and other tech-driven fields.
“Discussion should also be tilted to the ethical implications of AI, including data privacy, bias and the social impact of automation, preparing students to navigate and shape the future of AI responsibly,” she explained.
CEO, The Power Parenting Company, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami took participants through what it entails in Child Safe Guiding and Protection in the school environment.
He advised school proprietors to be aware of child protection system and how they should go about it.
He explained that a school environment should be a caring and nurturing place where children feel warmth and protected and anything out of this is not a safe place for any child.
Wunmi Ogunde, Sustainable Consultant and PhD Student, University of Warwick, said sustainability is essential for the development of schools and that is why across the world there is call for sustainability which is the SDG13 which entails environment sustainability, water pollution among others.
She advised schools owners to develop an eco-friendly schools that are sustainable.
According to her, environment have an impact on schools and it is essential for schools to create a healthy environment for schools to thrive.
“By 2050, it has been estimated that we will have more plastics in the ocean than fish, that is why we need to be cautious with our waste and reduce waste production.”
She also educate schools on how they can turn their waste to wealth.
Both Mrs. Olufunke Fowler Amba, ED, Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls and Jemima Nartey, Founder and CEO, Happy Kids Schools, Accra Ghana shared their journey with participants and how they can navigate during turbulence time.
The Convener and Chief Executive Officer, Edumark Consult, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde said the reason why they organized the programme is because of the critical period for school owners.
“They are battling with so many challenges. They’re battling with the issues surrounding their teachers, surrounding their cost of operations, surrounding government policies and so many others like that.
“We also noticed that quite a number of school owners reached out to us with the intention of selling their school. They’re saying that they’re tired and they just want to do away with the institution and that is really a source of concern.
“That’s one of the reasons we organized this workshop as we are going into a new academic session and a lot of things will need to be looked at.
“That is why we segment the workshop, we went from strategy to technology and then to talent management, to curriculum, to sustainability, safeguarding and all that and it was a very rich and well attended programme. And we hope that they’ve been able to pick a few things that will add value to them as they plan ahead for 2024/2025 academic session,” she explained.
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