It is no longer news that the world has been thrown off balance with the outbreak of the Covid-19. With so much to show for the impact of the virus, closing down schools across Nigeria is perhaps one of such glaring impacts on the education sector.

With the government’s strategies and proposed plan of implementing online learning programmes to revive education amidst the Covid-19 crisis, Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, who is a celebrated Women and Girls Advocate, is doubtful that Nigeria is indeed ready to implement these programmes.

With public schools across the nation undersupplied with computers coupled with the lack of internet access, Abisoye on her Twitter page tweeted, ‘As a country, are we ready to take our schools online?  Peradventure, schools were to shut down due to the [Covid-19], what happens to our public schools? They barely have computers and the internet in school, how will they study online? At home… I’m worried’.

With Nigeria still struggling to get its educational infrastructure up to global standards, it is easy to see why Abisoye is worried.

Abisoye is the founder of Pearls Africa Youth Foundation (PAYF), a non-governmental organisation aimed at equipping young girls in underserved areas in Nigeria with technology skills. She was named one of ten CNN Heroes of 2018.

PAYF recently held a food drive for families and public school teachers of young girls in the Makoko community of Yaba, Lagos State. The foundation provided food items, hand sanitisers, and soap for 40 families to ameliorate the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

Source: Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin

Photo source: Emory Maiden