By; SANI ALIYU, Zaria
Tertiary education institutions need to migrate to flexible teaching and learning modalities by recalibrating the curriculum, incapacitating and upgrading the infrastructure.
Professor Faruq Haruna Abdulrashid, Provost, Federal College of Education, Kontagora, stated this while delivering a keynote paper at the annual International Conference organized by the Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
He said these strategic actions have to be continuously assessed, modified and enhanced to respond to volatile,uncertain and changing scenarios in times of crisis.
According to him, teaching and learning continuity amid the pandemic and beyond requires an analysis of the parameters by which the University operates from the perspective of the stakeholders..
Professor Faruq noted that the disruption of COVID-19 and possible future pandemic in the educational system is of great magnitude that Universities have to cope with at the soonest possible time.
He advised Higher education institutions to develop a resilient learning system using evidence-based and need-based information so that responsive and proactive measures can be instituted.
The keynote speaker said, coping with the effects of COVID-19 in Higher Education Institutions demands a varieties of perspectives among stakeholders.
“Consultation needs to includes the administration who supports the teaching and learning processes, the students wbo are the core of the system,the Faculty members who perform various academic roles and others who shares the responsibility of learning to the completion of the educational requirements of the students”.
“In the context of the pandemic Universities have to start understanding and identifying medium – term and long- term implications of this phenomenon on teaching,learning,students experience, infrastructure, operations and staff”.
“Scenario analysis and understanding of the context of each University are necessary to the current challenges they are confronted with”.
Professor Faruq said, educational system must prepare to develop plans to move forward and address the new normal after the crisis.
In his message, the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Dr. Hamid Bobboyi who was the chairman of the association, said the commission has established 37 Smart Model Schools across the country.
Represented by his Deputy, Professor Bala Zakari said UBE has assist States with Classrooms buildings and provision of Tablets and trained teachers to become Computer literate.
He said currently the projects executed by UBEC have reached 80% across the six geopolitical zones.
Earlier in his address, the Vice Chancellor Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Kabiru Bala said, education is a cornerstone of progress with a new era of integration of imaging technologies paving the ways on advancement on knowledge dissemination and acquisitions.
He said, one of the most significant in the recent years, has been the rise of artificial intelligence mechanism.
According to him, these technologies have potentials to disrupt the learning experiences for students
The theme of the conference was, “Emerging Educational Innovations, Creativity and Research for Transformation of Teaching and Learning In The New Global Realities”.
