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Models In The Educational Sector?

R. Buckminster Fuller said:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise and disrupted the activities of various sectors across the world. The educational sector was not left out as the pandemic revealed aspects of the sector that had lots of defects. For instance, although there was the option of online schooling, UNESCO reports that students from poorer backgrounds and countries with bad internet services did not have access to remote learning.

Hence, the need for immediate actions in order to both prepare adequately and prevent such future occurrences. This is where Fuller’s words about models come to play. It is essential to ensure that models, especially educational models, which did not have any positive impact be made obsolete. In exchange, new models bound to create, implement and maintain the much-needed change be adopted in earnest.

Using Nigeria as a case study, the educational sector is progressively deteriorating. The era of constant protests for a change without the said change needs to go. The era of more children out of school than in school needs to go. The era of online schooling struggles needs to go. In the same way, new models to ensure children, and youths are in school, a stable online learning platform, and affordable quality education amongst others need to become a reality.

The Sapphires Development Initiative continuously advocates for quality education. TSDI organized a webinar on the 15th of July 2022, with over 70 students. This webinar was to address the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities and its resultant effects on the youths and the educational system. During the webinar, there was a youth consultation session on the root causes, and solutions the Nigerian educational system currently undergoes.

Now, with a diagnosis and prognosis in view, we must all focus on building a new educational system that would take into consideration all the challenges of the current education system and imbibe the best-known solution.
TSDI would like to lend our voices at every opportunity to advocate for a new system. We cannot do all these alone, so join us today as a partner/volunteer that lends their voices till we get the quality education the system (nationally and internationally) clearly needs.