As economies transition away from traditional learning methods and the characteristics of job markets evolve, education technology (edtech) can help countries achieve efficiency and effectiveness in school management. With widespread resource shortages in schools across the country, Nigeria stands to make significant gains from digital methodologies in order to raise the quality and productivity of education.
Internet Access
There are significant challenges in offering internet coverage to populations throughout Africa, and Nigeria is no exception. Internet penetration at the beginning of 2022 stood at 51%, up from nearly 29% in 2018. However, while significant gains have been made regarding penetration levels, geographical inequities exist in telecommunication network coverage. According to a February 2022 report by the Alliance for Affordable Internet, 12.1% of the population had access to steady and fast internet, with 16.4% in urban areas and 6.6% in rural areas.
Comprehensive internet coverage remains a challenge, as 4G coverage was available to 37% of the population as of May 2022, and download speeds are slower than countries in similar income brackets. In terms of mobile subscriptions – which reached more than 60% of the population as of 2020, or 700m people across the continent – the penetration rate in Nigeria was 37.3% in 2022, with projections it will reach 48% by 2027.
Emerging Businesses
Nigeria is a major player in the African education technology (edtech) start-up space, accounting for 28% of the more than 200 such start-ups across the continent as of April 2022. Tutoring, language services, monitoring and addressing children’s’ learning gaps, and virtual video tools are some of the digital solutions found in the market. These have helped to improve teaching methods, student learning outcomes, and school and fee management.
Digital literacy is an increasingly important skill in the labour market. Virtual learning enables students and teachers to interact when in-person assistance is not possible. Indeed, edtech can enable collaborative learning through video, images and adaptive education applications. “Nigeria’s youth is driven to succeed. They go out of their way to look for knowledge and skills, for example learning coding and data analytics in order to self develop,” Chinedum Peace Babalola, vice-chancellor of Chrisland University, told OBG.
Lessons drawn from the Covid-19 pandemic have raised the profile of edtech solutions to save costs and increase efficiency in schools. The health crisis redefined digital education, with the edtech segment transforming delivery through virtual classrooms, online content solutions, mobile and cloud technologies, and hardware such as interactive whiteboards and in-classroom tablets for students.
Practical Solutions
In order to provide students with the appropriate skills to fully leverage improved methods and technologies, it will be important for the government to support more collaboration between the private sector and educational institutions. While progress has been most visible in private institutions, the digitalisation of students’ learning experience in public schools across different levels has drawn the attention of public authorities.
The government has called for the private sector to help bridge this technological gap, and multiple startups, non-governmental organisations and private firms are working towards this change. For example, Nigerian edtech start-up uLesson, which launched in March 2020, allows students to take lessons and tests via a mobile app, and universities such as Lagos State University and the American University of Nigeria have created e-learning alternatives for students at home. Meanwhile, in May 2021 the Lagos State government began distributing 1m ICT devices to secondary school pupils and tech-teaching instruments to 15,000 teachers in public primary schools to bridge the digital divide, with the government stressing the necessity of partnership with corporate individuals and local companies.
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