Strengthening Education System in Africa- NEDIS ‘5

By Abigail Ibikunle
The Nigerian Education Innovation Summit (NEDIS), a two-day event which was organized and hosted annually by The Education Partnership (TEP) center continued yesterday, Friday 5th July, 2019 at Workforce, Gbagada.

Delivering the keynote address yesterday, Mr. Chinezi Chijioke, CEO Nova Pioneer, spoke about ‘Building the Schools of the future’ focusing on a lesson in innovation and pedagogy. He stressed the need for growth and enlargement in education sector and spoke extensively on approaches to sustainable, scalable innovation.

He encouraged leveraging systems for consistency and iterative learning in the areas with much emphasis on pedagogy coming from the angle of centralized learning system, people, also stressing the need for instructional leadership where roles and routines are used in advancing team development. He also talked about the need for deliberate culture that centered around being greater together with joy of learning after providing solutions first in a servant leadership setting which is always growing and brings about high expectations.

The first plenary session for the day focused on ‘it takes a village: roles of families and communities in building safe and inclusive learning experiences for children. The CEO, GEMSTONE group, Mr. Fela Durotoye, one of the panelists talked about the need for combined effort of the parents and community in raising a child. He stressed the need for parents to be mindful of not just raising their own children alone but every child they have an encounter with, hence promoting unity and value for a better community.

He explained the importance of not just teaching techniques but values that will help those techniques. He talked about the need to incorporate core values into the children for a better future as parents, teachers and community.
‘‘No need not to teach a child not to lie if the nation would reward such a child later for lying. No need to teach a child not to steal if the nation would encourage thieves later,’’ he stated.

Also speaking, one of the panelists, Hajiya Saadatu Hashim, President, Federation of Women Muslim Association in Nigeria (FOWMAN), talked about the need to not just adopt schools but villages as well. She expressed that parents also need to be enlightened, noting that while making efforts to teach the children, parents should also be engaged to build the land.

After a very wonderful plenary session, Public Policy Analyst/Senior Economic Advisor, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, launched the LEARNigeria Survey Report Card. The LEARNigeria which is an acronym for Let’s Engage, Assess & report Nigeria, is innovative citizen-led household assessment and advocacy programme. She however noted that the survey report card had gone beyond just a citizen’s book but had become a public-private and even non-profit’s combined effort stressing the importance of data and its effectiveness in a great nation.

The delegates and speakers had a mind-blowing experience at the grand finale. There was a communique presentation and adoption, networking cocktail and the NEDIS Recognition Awards for Innovation in Education. The event was well attended across the African continent.