Lagos moves to make teachers ICT-compliant

• Firm trains them on e-report cards preparation, others

THE recent training of private school teachers in the Lagos State Education District One, on the use of computer programming to process documents and create electronic report cards for pupils and students, reveals the need for school owners and managers to ensure that teachers are not just computer literate, but Information Communication Technology (ICT) compliant. 

  Coordinated by Applied Services Limited, the Lagos State Government Education Management System (LASGEMS) is an innovative online education management tool backed by law. It maintains lifetime comprehensive records of all public and private primary and secondary schools operating in Lagos State. It manages history of pupils’ academic and administrative records.

  Some of its features include curriculum management; school admissions; annual placements exercise; student transfer management (public and private schools); examination planning and registration; biometric data; automated issuance of government student identity cards to all public and private school students, school time-table management; school resource management, among others. It also covers the entire process of school administration.

 LASGEMS was also designed to ensure all aspects of school activities are carried out online, since the 21st century has witnessed a great deal of technological advancements, which have helped many teachers and students in the developed world in teaching and learning. 

  According to proponents of the service, effective this academic session (2014/2015), LASGEMS will provide online school attendance for all class teachers; subject attendance, test and examination scores’ entries by every subject teacher; automated processing of Continuous Assessment Scores (CAS); academic term results and reports, which can be sent to parents by email. These and many more were at the root of the recent training.

  However, after the one-day workshop held at Martinos Event Centre, Lagos, some teachers described the exercise as cumbersome and difficult to comprehend.

  A primary school teacher who pleaded anonymity told The Guardian that in spite of the fact that he has been previously trained under LASGEMS, the exercise was still strenuous and requires continuous hands-on training.

  Another teacher from Taqwa Private School, Agege, Mrs. Olaleye Olabisi however, begged to differ. Mrs. Olabisi, who described the project as an excellent exercise noted that her school already was doing something similar.      “With what I have learnt here, I will go back and update our database to accommodate the new developments and then train others. It is a straightforward exercise and a big relief for teachers.

  “But it is only teachers that are ICT-compliant that would grasp the training and be able to train others.  My school has helped us a great deal. In fact, for you to work in my school you must own a laptop or tablet, else you won’t be employed because we do all our activities including lesson notes online and we have 24-hour power supply. So, you must do all your work and send them online for assessment.”

  The above scenario shows, in a nutshell, how ignorance of the basic ICT functions would hinder the entrenchment or even advancement of any new innovation in the education sector.

 In addition to this, some teachers at the workshop expressed concern that lack of facilities may hinder the success of the project, as some of the schools do not have adequate facilities that would ensure its success. 

  Managing Director of Applied Services Limited, Mr. Yomi Erogbogbo, in his remarks explained that the essence of the programme was to launch the upgraded version of the system and update teachers’ knowledge through hands-on training. 

  He said so long as teachers can use phones that can browse and also buy data bundle and be Internet ready, the programme can easily be carried out.

  “If you have access to your school system, you can make inputs from anywhere, just be Internet ready. We are only capitalising on new development because if there is technological advancement and you don’t apply it for effective use, then there is a problem. This new development can be done at anytime and anywhere, so long as there is Internet connection. Everybody makes an input and the system puts everything together,” he explained.

  Commenting on the participants, he said, “Some years ago when we started, we trained them on admission, promotion and management. But now, everything is fully computerised. The school attendance, subject attendance and all the scores are now done online whereby schools can do away with their manual registers.

  “The system computes all the scores and produces all the reports automatically; the end of term report card, the broadsheets as well as the school attendant reports. They can also communicate with parents through email or SMS. This programme is totally free; it is just to update them of new developments.

  He added that the programme was of high value to schools and parents owing to the numerous benefits inherent in it. “Your report booklet cannot be found if it is lost, but with this, schools can always reproduce it. It is a lifetime record keeping.”

  Erogbogbo further explained that LASGEMS mandates every student to be on a database. What we have done is like “train the trainers”. We have trained people from each school free and they will go back to train others. We have dedicated training platforms, servers where they can learn further and be able to train others. We have smart instruction guides on the system, which tells you step by step what to do and it’s very easy to use.”

  On when the firm will engage the public schools, he said, “When it comes to public schools, it’s an issue of bureaucracy. It has to be driven by some policy directives.

  He informed participants that their ability to complete the exercises as demonstrated at the workshop, and print out complete school term reports, would earn them certificate of participation.

  Only recently, the Osun State Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, while speaking on the recent adoption of the “Tablet of Knowledge” (Opon Imo), said that “today’s education is on a super highway and the driver is information technology.”

  This submission effectively summarises the importance of ICT in education delivery hence the need for teachers to respond to the changing needs of pupils and students. 

  Director of ICT in the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, Mrs. Uwem Asomugha, is also in sync with this assertion. That perhaps explains why she recently advised that government at all levels and private school owners need to embark on massive training of teachers on how to practically deploy ICT to all school activities and programmes.

  According to her, new innovations have emerged in contemporary schools and teachers, as key operators need to adopt the innovation and embed it in their school activities.

  She said, “Most of the training these teachers have been receiving is on the use of Microsoft Office for typing and other things. But when it comes to multipurpose task, which is the next level of ICT knowledge, many of them are deficient. So there is need for massive training of teachers for them to be able to embrace new innovation.”

  For associate professor of Computer Science at Covenant University, Dr. Nicholas Omoregbe, any teacher that desires to get to the peak of his/her profession must have good ICT knowledge and all it connotes.

  According to him, “Most operations, processes and procedures in school administration now requires very good knowledge of ICT, a lot of school activities now are ICT driven and any teacher that lacks such knowledge will be limited. Teachers should be mindful of the fact that we are now in a global village and they should develop with the trend. Governments on their part should encourage and support teachers through regular in-service training.”