The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), Architect Sonny Echono has said for graduates to be relevant and agile in taking advantage of opportunities and providing solutions to societal problems, they must not only be digital natives but also global citizens honed in the skills for critical thinking, problem-solving, in communication, technology adoption, adaptability and cross-cultural awareness.
He stated this while delivering the 26th Convocation Lecture and 40th Anniversary Lecture of the Lagos State University, Ojo entitled: “The Impact of Digitalization on Higher Education in the Digital Age” on Tuesday.
According to him, at TETFund, they are fully aware that the future of education in Nigeria is inseparably hinged on the development of capacity in digital literacy and skills to address the acute dearth of workers with in-demand digital literacy and emerging skills as well as the mismatch between the skills which graduates possess and employers need this 21st century.
He however said, Nigeria is incredibly deficient in the digital skills that are essential for most skilled jobs in industries, education, health, engineering, infrastructure and other sectors.
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He said: “The effectiveness and efficiency of digital literacy and skills development and training at our tertiary education institutions require appropriate, time-on-task and excellent planning and implementation.
To achieve the objectives of this intervention, he said all regulatory agencies, viz: National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) must take ownership of the initiative.
“Apart from the fact that there is now a shift from personal learning to personalized learning, there are emerging learning ecosystems which demand new knowledge and skills for lifelong learning of which digital literacy remains indubitable and yet to be fully integrated into all levels of education in Nigeria.
To survive and succeed in today’s innovation-driven economy, in a world where technology is increasingly dominating all aspects of life and work, our graduates would need a different mix of skills than in the past. Unprecedentedly, all the skills required to navigate through the 21st-century world hinge on digital literacy.
On digital literacy roadmap, the TETfund Boss revealed that Nigeria recently adopted the EU and UNESCO framework to develop a National Digital Literacy Framework to seek synergy in the implementation of a uniform digital literacy strategy which would especially, establish digital literacy as a core subject in primary, secondary, and tertiary school.
” Make digital literacy a criterion for graduation at tertiary education level and for admission at postgraduate level of the Nigerian education system.
It would also require digital literacy certification for employment and promotion of all public service workforce in all job roles and cadres, and demanding career-specific digital skills certification as an additional criterion for employment and promotion of workers in every sector of Nigeria’s economy.
“All these point to the urgent need to reimagine our education system, especially the curriculum, on what to teach and how to teach so that our graduates are relevant and fit for purpose in the new world”
He added that Nigeria must join a growing global movement for educational transformation focusing on a transformation agenda rather than a reform strategy.
“Our education system must redefine both content and pedagogy, and shift from transmission to transformation, directed at stimulating innovation, promoting creativity, and encouraging critical thinking as weapons for relevance in the new world of daily life and work.
“It is therefore imperative, as gatekeepers and avant-garde of tertiary education, to think differently about educational leadership, and to design a new pathway, using digital literacy as a disruptive foundation.
“We must also engender new perspectives and practices by employing emerging models of curriculum delivery. At no time in our history has there been a louder call for our education to be more relevant and transformative,” he said.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello said that LASU is on track to realise its vision of becoming Nigeria’s most digitalised institution as it has continued to leverage technology through a hybrid method that combined virtual and physical classes following the COVID-19 lockdown.
According to her, with the Support of the Lagos State Government under the leadership of Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the university mounted online classes for its students and even conducted virtual examinations for Postgraduate Students while ensuring that LASU did not experience disruptions of its academic calendar during the COVID 19 pandemic.
She said technology had become an integral aspect of management of higher institutions and that LASU’s digitalisation drive received a boost recently when the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy selected LASU, among forty nine other tertiary institutions in Nigeria, as beneficiaries of the Federal Government Broadband Internet Connectivity Intervention scheme.
The lecture which had the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed as the Chairman, the Vice Chancellor congratulated President Bola Tinubu who delivered the 25th Convocation Lecture of the University saying the Lagos State University was glad to associate with him and prayed that his tenure would usher in great prosperity for Nigeria.
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