By Funmi Ogundare
As Nigeria recently marked its diamond jubilee, just as its education sector was disrupted with schools either closing or migrating to online teaching and learning, year five students of Lagos Preparatory and Secondary School recently shared their views on how such changes in 2020 have affected their learning, saying that general life and practical skills have become just as important as formal education, which goes beyond the classroom.
Master Adefemi Adewusi said he now has more time to think about life and has become calmer, gentler and sometimes a little emotional about current happenings in the world.
“I have time to write comics and books and work on computer programmes, my own YouTube channel and so much more.”
Master Olohireime Kragha said: “Remote learning is a little bit better than normal school because in normal school, there is a lot of noise in class and people distract you when you are trying to focus. I now know how to vacuum my room and clean my bathroom.”
Master Adeoluwa Adesada said he spends more time with family and stays home more often.
“I have actually done and learnt really fun things. I started learning how to cook and bake (I even made an apple crumble); I learnt how to ride my bike without training wheels; I learnt how to speak a bit of Spanish and some more French because of my cousins (Aprendí a hablar español and J’ai appris à parler français) and I decided that since I cannot be on YouTube or TikTok, I would make my own videos; even though I am not actually going to post them.”
“I am now faster at typing than before because at school we do a lot of things that require me to type,” said Olaedo Nwachuku. Miss Tomiwa Akindele said before now, she couldn’t draw anything good, but now she can and has peven gone ahead to write two books.
“I am writing the third one, but I haven’t published any. I am also spending my time cycling and reading. Before, I would never read and now I read at least four hours every school day.”
Some other students also said they have been able to develop their critical thinking and considered the effects of political decisions on the society.
“I didn’t like the fact that the airports were not closed earlier and a foreigner who was infected with Coronavirus was allowed to come into Lagos and spread the virus,”said Miss Amelia Odunewu
The school management expressed excitement about the students and how far they have come this year. “We hope that the changes Nigeria has experienced this year in education will lead to a quality of future graduates from every part of the country who will positively shape all aspects of our society in the coming decades.”
