Information And Communication Technology In The Nigerian Education System

Description

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The last few years have witnessed an increase in the development and adoption of Information and
communication technologies. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become key tools
and had a revolution impact on how we see the world and how we live (Ajayi and Ekundayo 2009). ICT are electronic technologies used for information storage and retrieval (Adomi and Kpangban 2010). A lot of businesses have incorporated ICT and are now conducting their businesses by using computer
communication networks through the internet. ICT is fast becoming an important utility just like electricity, water and road for the people. Today, ICT has become a common place in Education and the world in general, and cannot be overemphasised as they provide real time access to information, provide a more hands-on learning experience and also provide new method of learning that promote more dynamism, interaction and deep participation between the teachers and the students which ultimately increase the students’ interest and performance.
ICT has the capacity to provide higher interactive potential for users to develop their individual, intellectual and creative ability (Aduwa-Ogiegbam & Iyamu 2005). They have now become tools for enhancing the quality of education. ICT in education goes beyond improving access to education as it also focuses on improving the quality of education. A highly skilled and educated workforce with aptitude and skills of ICT is very indispensable for a Nation to successfully compete in the global economic environment. According to Yusuf and Asaolu cited by Asaolu and Fashanu (2012), for several decades now, ICT has been progressively infused into the Nigerian educational sector and has undoubtedly affected teaching, learning, and research. Most experts in the field of education agreed that, when properly used, information and communication technology holds great promise to improve teaching and learning in addition to shaping workforce opportunities (Aduwa-Ogiegbam & Iyamu 2005). A great deal of research has proven the benefits to the quality of education (Al-Ansari cited by Adomi and Kpangban, 2010).
Several efforts made by the administrators of Nigeria education to integrate ICT into the education systems in a bid to put Nigeria on the good side of the digital divide have not yielded much result . While the developed nations are on the long end of the stick, the developing nations are still crawling on the short end of the stick, as the adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Nigerian secondary schools is still at a very low level. Therefore, this low level of development and adoption of ICT in Nigeria, a developing nation, has put her at an educational disadvantage. For any nation to boast of educational development, it should be able to boast of a viable and functional information and communication technology driven education in secondary schools, especially in this fast changing world
where globalization is the order of the day (Osakwe 2012).
This study seeks to investigate the current state of the adoption of ICT in Nigerian secondary education
system, in particular among secondary schools in Owerri, Imo state. For Nigeria, the secondary education
comprises both the range of formal schooling (private and public) as well as a wide variety of non -formal
education activities offered to meet the learning needs of groups of people typically between the ages of 8
and 20. However, for this study, the focus is on ICT use for teaching and learning activities within the
formal system of secondary education, which is the six years of secondary education. There are 48
registered secondary schools in Owerri out of which 29 of them are managed by the government and the
other nineteen (19) are run by private individuals and organisations. The study cuts across both t ypes of
schools.
The motivation behind this study is based on the fact that ICT development and deployment during the last few years have been dramatic, but Nigerian education sector is yet to fully tap in to the opportunity.
Although, according to Juwah (2012) by the International Telecommunications standards, Nigeria’s
telecom growth is a huge performance at the 64.98 per cent tele -density compared with some 0.44 per
cent in 2001, but Aduwa cited by Asaolu and Fashanu (2012) noted that computers are st ill lacking in
ninety percent of all public schools and that most operations are still done manually. Thus, the purpose of
this study is to obtain an insight into the current development of Information Communication and
Technology in the area of secondary school education in Nigeria in order to propose further
recommendations for efficient education development.
The choice of secondary schools over other levels of education is as a result of the fact that the secondary
school is the mid education level and it is considered as the most important level of academic in the
Nigeria society as there is increasing number of young people getting enrolled in the secondary school. In
a report by Dewan (2010), Ngozi noted that there is a link between secondary educat ion and economic
growth evidence which suggests that having a critical mass of people with secondary education is key to
shifting the basis of economic growth from a labour-intensive to a more knowledge-centric activity. It
stands as the crucial link between primary schooling, tertiary education, and the labour market. It also has the ability to connect the different destinations and to take young people where they want to go in life
(Adediran 2010).
This actually makes the government to increasingly pay more attention to secondary education. In a report by World Bank as cited by Adediran (2010), secondary education is now being recognized as the
cornerstone of educational systems. This is because secondary education has the peculiarities of being at
the same time terminal and preparatory. The Secondary school students are between the ages of 8 and 20.
The education and the training that pupils receive during their teenage years has long been recognized as
crucial to the development of job skills and other attributes that affect the ability to function productively
as a member of the society (Eubanks and Eubanks 2002).
Nigeria is a sub-Sahara country located in West Africa with a population of over 150 million people. The
country is endowed with human and other resources and is a leading African Nation. Owerri is a city in the south eastern part of Nigeria with a population of over 4 million people. It is the capital city of the Imo
state and also serves as the economic hub of the five south eastern states of Nigeria. Owerri is a
microcosm of the Nigerian nation in terms of ethnic representation and other diffusions. Though some
studies have been conducted on the integration of ICT into secondary school education in Nigeria, there is
a great need to monitor the situation, evaluate the changing trends and effects especially in a developing
country like Nigeria (Asaolu and Fashanu 2012).
Despite considerable growth in the numbers of computers in secondary schools in Nigeria in recent years
and the sacrifices made to finance these, there has been little evaluation of their effectiveness. This
research seeks to redress this, by examining the extent of the use of ICT in Nigerian secondary schools and the factors affecting its adoption. The study will concentrate on both public and private secondary schools
in Owerri, Imo state. The factors to be considered will include but may not be limited to infrastructure,
training, curriculum, security of hardware and general funding. The main purpose of this study is to gain aninsight into the current state of ICT integration in Nigerian secondary schools and to propose
recommendations for efficient deployment in order to further develop the education system.
Given the important roles ICT play in the educational system, in particular, its integration into the teaching, learning and administration of the secondary educational system in Nigeria, the study is designed to investigate the extent of the integration of ICT in Nigerian secondary schools. Consequent upon this, the
following question and objectives were drawn to direct this study.
The question is
• What is the extent of the use of ICT in Nigerian secondary schools and what are the factors
affecting its adoption?
The objectives of the study are:
• To assess to what extent ICT has been adopted in Nigerian secondary schools, with particular
emphasis on schools in Owerri, Nigeria.
• To identify key aspects that enable the adoption and integration of ICT in secondary schools in
Owerri, Nigeria.
• To identify key challenges hindering the integration of ICT to Nigerian secondary schools.
• To make recommendations based on the above findings with the view of improving integration of
ICT into secondary schools in Nigeria.
In chapter 2, I review previous literature on the adoption of ICT in Nigerian secondary Schools, tracing the changes that have occurred in the education system since it was first recognised as a tool for education
enhancement. Chapter 3 describes the methodology behind the study and the processes involved in
collecting and analysing the data. In chapter 4, present my findings under the following headings: Stage
One Qualitative data; and Stage Two Quantitative data. In Chapter 5, the findings are discussed in relation to existing literature. I Conclusion and Recommendation are presented in chapter 6.