By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
The desire to re-create the good schools of yesteryears where all pupils, especially those attending public schools, can get quality education may never be fulfilled, says an educator, Mr. Martins Adegoke.
In an interview with The Nation, Adegoke, who has taught at secondary and tertiary levels for over two decades, said it would be difficult to get quality teachers in adequate numbers to train the large population of school children in Nigeria.
“If we all think that public primary schools will go back to the way they were in the 70s and 80s, we are joking. In Nigeria, we have about 40 million pupils from Primary 1 to SS3, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.We have another 12 million out of school – which makes 52 million people of school age. The teacher- to-student ratio in Nigeria is very appalling. The knowledge of the teacher is also another factor to look at. We cannot get the kind of public schools we attended back then where we got quality education today,” he said.
However, Adegoke believes pupils can still get quality education leveraging technology. While the number of quality teachers in the country may be inadequate, the biological scientist and former banker said the productivity of good teachers could be enhanced through technology to reach more learners.
Adegoke dedicates his time and resources to getting good quality teachers to put educational content in a form that is attractive to learners – animated videos.
Through his firm, Martad Educational and Skills Development Limited, Adegoke started Screen Class, a management learning system that gives learners access to resources online. The resource is loaded with curriculum-based concepts taught with animated videos.
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“Screen Class is an edutech solution portal that utilises innovative technology in the delivery of syllabus-tailored content. Our target audience are pupils in primary and secondary schools. We use carefully crafted and detailed animated explanatory videos; we use cartoon characters to teach the students. We have developed content in English and Mathematics. For now, we have developed the entire common entrance syllabus in English and Mathematics. We are dividing them into the various classes,” he said.
Adegoke said the videos voiced by very experienced teachers and animated by a young crew of tech experts are designed to appeal to various learning styles.
“It is designed to fit into the learning requirements of a wide range of learners.The animated videos appeal to visual learners; the transcription and well-arranged text is good for reading and writing learners; and if you are an audio learner, the audio is rich. You can learn at your pace and comfort,” he said.
Adegoke said educational content provided by Screen Class is accessible on its website and via an app which can be downloaded for free. While 10 percent of the content is free for pupils, he said the firm charges a low monthly/yearly subscription for 90 per cent of the content to cover the high cost of producing the videos. However, partnership with some telecommunication firms like Airtel and 9-mobile makes it possible for learners to access Screen Class online data free or at great discount.
The educationist also said learners could also watch Screen Class content on several TV stations for free. With sponsors, Adegoke said Screen Class would reach even more learners.
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