Need for National Policy on One Laptop per Child

Need for National Policy on One Laptop per 

Child 

Recently, the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Prof. Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba made a call for a national policy that would ensure that every child in Nigeria owns a laptop computer.  The call was against the backdrop of the growing influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in determining the employability of graduates.

Ozumba argued that although Nigerian universities produce very clever graduates, many of them were not considered fit for employment because of deficiencies in basic skills especially in the area of Information and Communication Technology. The laptop policy, according to him would be funded either as a government constituency project or through soft financial package to the students.  Read More at: https://danelite.blogspot.com.ng/

 “Rwanda, through its 'ICT in Education Policy' has a national policy of one laptop per child; I don't think Rwanda is richer than Nigeria”, he said.

In recognition of the indispensability of ICT skill in the training of 21st century graduates, the administration of the University of Nigeria introduced a laptop innovation policy.  Under the policy, every student admitted into the University of Nigeria for the 2015/2016 session is given a laptop computer. 
Beneficiaries are given payment options: either to pay once or spread the payment across three academic sessions at the rate of N25, 000.00 per session. Read More at: https://danelite.blogspot.com.ng/

The initiative is meant to afford students the opportunity to develop requisite computer and ICT skills before graduation and to effectively utilize the ubiquitous internet facility in the University.  It is also expected that students ownership of laptops would give them opportunity to access and revise lecture modules at the comfort of their hostels.  With the signing of memorandum of Understanding between the University of Nigeria and foremost IT companies like the IBM, Microsoft and HP, the laptop policy is meant to ensure that students participate fully in the IT training which the Institution had arranged.

But the policy elicited mixed reactions from people.  Vice President of the Student Union Government, Comrade Joy Chinaza Nebo said the policy would help the beneficiaries develop computer literacy and adjust to current trends in ICT.

 “The world is changing; in other parts of the world, you see children of seven years who are already computer literate: they toy with computer and other ICT gadgets. But in Nigeria, many students graduate without having access to the computer.  I think the University administration took a bold step by introducing the laptop policy, even though it came at a critical economic period in the country”, she said. Read More at: https://danelite.blogspot.com.ng/

Comrade Nebo said she would like the policy to be sustained but the price of the laptop computers should be subsidized and their durability guaranteed.

Loveth Okeleke Ifunaya, a second year student of the Department of Mass Communication said she was pained that the University administration did not enforce the policy last session when she gained admission.

“My parent was compelled to buy a laptop and an IPod for my younger brother as  a condition for his admission in the Federal University of Technology, Akure, if the policy was enforced when I got admission,  I would have owned a laptop by now and save myself the stress of running around to type my assignments. 

Meanwhile, attention of the House of Representatives was equally drawn to the policy when Hon. Bashir Babale from Kano state argued that the compulsory laptop policy in UNN would deny many Nigerians access to education in the University.  His argument prompted the leadership of the green carpet chamber to mandate its Committee on Tertiary Education to look into the matter. Read More at: https://danelite.blogspot.com.ng/

  

But that was not the first time innovative policies from the UNN were being challenged.  Investigation into the antecedents of the University revealed that   most of the novel policies the University introduced into the Nigerian education system were initially greeted with opposition at different levels, but the relevance of such policies to educational development in the country, made other tertiary institutions to adopt the innovative models.

It is on record that even the establishment of the Institution as a full-fledged University of Nigeria did not go down well with some critics who argued that it was preposterous for the University to stand on its own without being affiliated to any Western University. The critic-in-chief then was the General Secretary of Nigerian Union of Teachers, Mr. E.E. Esua, who argued, among other things, that it was better to have more primary and secondary schools than a university without definite source of funding. The model of the University of Nigeria was later adopted in the establishment of other independent Universities in the country.   Similarly, the University of Nigeria was pilloried for introducing the now widely practiced General Studies courses. In the same vein, critics did not spare the Institution when it pioneered the existing four- year degree programme for GCE Ordinary Level entrants rather than sticking to the traditional three years degree programme for GCE Advanced Level entrants.

While the current administration of the University is receiving commendations and criticism on its latest innovative laptop policy, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ozumba said that other universities have been sending emissaries to study the policy with a view to adopting it in their institutions. Read More at: https://danelite.blogspot.com.ng/

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