According to UNESCO (2020a), about 1.2 billion learners across the world are out of school and 73.8% of the world’s school population have been affected by school closures. In Nigeria, the school closure has affected 36,400,000 primary and secondary school learners across the country, including those internally displaced.
The adverse impacts of school closures are difficult to overstate and many of them extend beyond the education sector. More prominent is the learning gap that it causes for underprivileged learners who tend to have fewer educational opportunities outside school.
To mitigate the impact of the closure of schools and ensure continued access to quality and equitable education, Bridge International Academies is providing free learning resources to keep children engaged, entertained and most importantly learning.
A spokesperson at Bridge Nigeria said, “For us at Bridge, we realised that keeping pupils at the center of a holistic program that meets the needs of all stakeholders is needed. Therefore, we continue to provide practical support to governments, parents and caregivers through learning at home, and educating on ways to help children better understand the pandemic.” He added
Each day, Bridge provides learning resources for each grade or class level for children based on the national curriculum. They include learning guides which help children complete different learning activities for each subject, self-study activity packs which are designed to help children complete different tasks, providing hundreds of stories through the virtual storybook library to help children practice literacy and free mobile interactive quizzes that children can take directly on WhatsApp.
A parent, Mrs Funke Akinpelu who resides in Ikeja said she is always excited when she sees activities that are easy-to-do, exciting and mentally tasking for her children. According to Mrs Akinpelu, this was how she felt when the mobile interactive quizzes were introduced to her by her friend. “I didn’t hesitate to introduce the quizzes to my children after attempting some of the Maths, English and Science questions myself.” She said.
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Mrs Akinpelu noted that the WhatsApp quiz is different from her children’s remote learning lessons, so it keeps them busy, doing something different and interesting. “I get to do other things while my children are actively engaged with the quiz. They are particularly happy that they get instant feedback about whether their answers are correct or not.” She added.
Although the new normal has affected education access, quality and equality, it has propelled the reshaping of education delivery. Bridge believes that it’s not just about ensuring children are participating in learning activities, but ensuring that learning is actually happening. Every aspect of remote learning resources should be intended to make learning a science, with a feedback loop that drives continuous improvement.
