Author: Emmanuel Nwiido

WORLD TEACHER’S DAY

Why You Need to Pass Your Exams

I have to come see everything in life, through the eyes of an entrepreneur whose sole interest is to exchange money for value and make profit out of it. Yes, life is about doing business and making profit, but how much profit one wants or needs to make, solely depends on one. I’ve got you thinking, right? So, you are wondering, ‘what does my passing exam have to do with making profit’? I’ll tell you.

You see, the primary purpose of being enrolled in school, is to enable you acquire knowledge, skills, and competence for a life-long career in any walk of life. At graduation, while you are a product of your school, it is expected that you would also have made good profit from the experiences you may have gathered especially from your teachers who were responsible for guiding you through learning activities and programmes. This is why a graduate can easily be described as “one who is found worthy in character and in learning”.

However, part of what enables you attain this qualification, is the fact that you have to pass your examinations without compromising to any form of exam malpractice. Examinations are pathways to your profiting that comes in form of good grades, character building, and positive mental health. In other words, the profits of your academic experience, is in passing your examinations. It actually gives you feelings of happiness, confidence, sense of fulfillment, and self-worth and achievement. All these culminate in what Abraham Maslow calls self-actualization or self-satisfaction.

You see, at one point or the other in life, everyone looks out for the meaning of life, and as a student, passing exams helps you to find meaning in life. Yes, passing your examination serves as a catalyst or driving force to do better at every turn in life; a motivation to move forward in life. The more exams you pass, the more meaning you make out of life as a student. You will gain more sense of achievement and actually enjoy the whole business of acquiring education. The business of schooling won’t be burdensome but exciting, because you are naturally motivated by previous successes at exams to study better in order to prepare for your forthcoming examinations. You will not only enjoy your education, but also put in more efforts to excel in it, and this ultimately becomes a huge source of satisfaction.

By mastering the art of preparing for, and passing examinations, you are also able to know your strengths and weaknesses which helps you to make informed decisions about your study choices and other aspects of your student life. This is because you become more focused, and able to know precisely what you want out of life. I have never known a more confident people than students who know what they want. They usually exhibit an incredible amount of positive thinking or optimism which leads to a good sense of self-worth. Passing your examination therefore makes you understand and discover your uniqueness, reactions and emotions. Therefore, you don’t only have a sense of self-worth, from passing exams, but it also gives you a high level of self-awareness that leads to self-satisfaction.

As you prepare to write another examination, I encourage you to to come to terms with yourself and tell yourself that it’s time to make another huge profit. Rather than entertain fear of failure, focus on the profit(s) you stand to make in your scholarly business. Passing exam is a goal that must be achieved in order to generate, and maintain a total wellbeing in life, especially as a student.

 

OHIA, Irene

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THE COST OF REOPENING OUR SCHOOLS IN THE PANDEMIC II

By Asawo, Ibifuro

OVERVIEW

In the first part of this series, Cost of Re-opening Schools in the Pandemic, I tried to make Nigerians understand the true cost of re-opening our schools in the face of the pandemic, it will not be out of place if we try to put some figures in Naira and Kobo to emphasize the cost implication for the government, schools and parents. This is to give our government and her citizens an idea of where they are likely to spend their resources, should the government go ahead to re-open schools in the course of the pandemic.

In order to give the required estimates for the cost of re-opening schools in the pandemic in Nigeria, I will have to lay some basic foundations and assumptions based on our population, demographics and the number of school-aged children in Nigeria.

FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

1. Nigeria has about 200 million people (according to Wikipedia, Nigeria as at 2018).
2. Out of this 200 million people:
3. 20 million are between ages 5 and 9 years
4. 16 million are between ages 10 and 14 years
5. 14 million are between 15 and 19 years
6. The above listed age ranges are between 5 and 19 years; they give us a total of about 50 million school-aged children.
7. This age range of 5 and 19 years shall be used for the cost analysis made in this article.
8. Out of this age range of 5 and 19 years chosen for this cost analysis, we have identified that there are over 13 million out-of-school children as reported by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
9. Again, given that from the age range of 15 and 19 years, some children may have actually completed their secondary education and are awaiting admission into the universities, while some may be presently in the universities, we have further considered the following:
10. 9 million students have admissions in the various universities across the country as reported by National Universities Commission (NUC).
11. We assume that another 3 million students are in other tertiary institutions.
12. Owing to the limited number of spaces in our tertiary institutions and the financial status of majority of families, it is possible that another 5 – 7 million students who have completed their secondary education are awaiting admission into tertiary institutions.
13. On the grounds of the above listed points (e) and (f), it can be easily deduced that out of the 50 million school-aged children, about 25 million children are not necessarily part of the back-to-school consideration being made in this article; hence, leaving us with about 25 million school-aged children to consider.

In making my estimates, I would rather want to err on the side of caution; hence, rather than use 25 million as an estimate for computation, I will use a conservative value of 20 million school-aged children so as to give any reader the comfort of conservation in the analysis.

1. It is further assumed that over 70% of school-aged children are in public schools, this means that about 14 million of these children are in public schools. We can therefore infer that 6 million children are in private schools.

These background numbers are very important for the calculation of our cost of re-opening in Naira and Kobo.

Before you ‘ingest’ all these figures, it will be worth your while to review them again to see if they are realistic or not. If they are not realistic, you can set out your own figures to enable you calculate your estimated cost of re-opening.

THE COST FACTORS

Below are some factors that will directly affect the re-opening of our schools and their cost implications:

1. TRANSPORTATION AND PHYSICAL DISTANCING

As a result of the physical distancing protocol in Nigeria and the rest of the world, transporters are made to carry fewer passengers. This change has naturally resulted in an increase in the fare. On this note, we have assumed the following:

• An average marginal increase of ₦100 per student
• 50% of children use public transportation to school
• 20% walk to school
• 30% are driven to school by parents/guardians or use school buses

This means that out of 20 million students, 10 million (i.e. 50%) will be affected by this fare increase; this cost, their parents will have to bear.

For an additional One Hundred Naira (N100.00) paid daily to supplement the carriage of fewer passengers by public transportation service providers, the parents and guardians of these 10 million students across the country will collectively be paying the sum of One Billion Naira (N 1,000,000,000.00), daily. That is, 10,000,000 × N 100.00 = N 1, 000,000,000.00. (See table above.)

This gives an indication of the role the transport sector plays in the entire education value chain to Nigerians with or without COVID-19. If a marginal increment of One Hundred Naira (₦100.00) will turn over One Billion Naira (₦ 1,000,000,000.00) daily from only 10 million commuters (the students), you can imagine what it turns out on the larger scale of things across the country.

This presents an opportunity for States and Local Government Councils to provide school buses at a subsidized but sustainable rate for their students.

2. WATER AND SOAP

The second factor that will directly affect cost if schools were to re-open is water and soap. Ideally, once the children arrive the premises, they are to wash their hands with water and soap. Provision of water and soap also comes at a cost. We will be making the following assumptions:

• The cost of 20L of water is about ₦100
• The cost of 500ml of liquid soap is about ₦100
• The 20L of water and 500ml of liquid soap is to serve 100 students daily; thus, each student will use 0.2L (20CL) of water and 5ml of soap daily to wash their hands while in school.
• There are 20 million pupils/students in our assumption.

From these assumptions, 20 million students will use 4,000,000L of water that will cost Ten Million Naira (₦ 10,000,000.00) and 100,000L liquid soap that will cost Sixty Million Naira (₦ 60,000,000.00). Hence, the total amount to be spent on soap and water per day will be Seventy Million Naira (₦ 70,000,000.00). That is, 200,000 × ₦ 50.00 = ₦10,000,000.00 for water; 200,000 × ₦300.00 = ₦ 60,000,000.00 for soap. This gives a total of ₦ 70,000,000.00 (See table above); this cost will be borne by the government for the public schools and the proprietors’ of private schools.

The assumption here is very modest and conservative.

3. SANITIZERS / DISINFECTANTS

The third factor we will be considering is sanitizing agents (sanitizers and disinfectants). While sanitizers will complement the washing of hands with soap and water, the disinfectants will be used to disinfect surfaces, school shoes and bags, doorknobs and the surroundings generally. In this regard, we will also be making some assumptions:

• 1L of sanitizing agent is to serve 100 students daily (i.e. each student will require 10ml of disinfectant daily)
• There are 20 million pupils / students in our assumptions

The above figure shows that One Billion Naira (₦ 1,000,000,000.00) will be spent on providing sanitizing agents and disinfectants alone for the students daily. That is, 200,000 × ₦ 5,000.00 = ₦1,000,000,000.00 (See table above).

4. FACE MASKS

Face masks will be provided by parents/guardians at home. A minimum of 2 masks may be required by each student for the entire term of three (3) months. We will be making the following assumptions:

• Each student will require a minimum of 2 face masks for the period
• Face masks can be washed and re-used
• Each mask costs ₦00

The sum of Four Billion Naira (₦4,000,000,000.00) will be spent by families across the country to provide at least two (2) face masks for each child within the period of 3 months. That is, 40,000,000 × ₦ 100.00 =

• 4,000,000,000.00 (See table above.)
• NON-CONTACT INFRARED THERMOMETERS

Non-contact infrared thermometers will be necessary to check the temperature of students and staff of the school before they gain access into the school premises; this equipment does not come at a very cheap price. Each school may need more than one (1) depending on the number of persons to be attended to. We are assuming that:

• One (1) Infrared thermometer will serve for 250 students in a school
• It means at least 80,000 infrared thermometers will be required to serve 20m students across the country
• The cost of an Infra-red thermometer is about N20,000.00 per unit

A total of One Billion, Six Hundred Million Naira (N 1,600,000,000.00) is to be spent on acquiring thermometers only. That is, 80,000 × N 20,000.00 = N 1,600,000,000.00 (See table above.)

COST SUMMARY FOR DAILY EXPENSES

The table above shows that the sum of Two Billion, Seventy Million Naira (₦ 2, 070,000,000.00) will be spent daily for transportation increment due to physical distancing, purchasing sanitizers/disinfectants and the provision of water and soap for 20 million students.

COST SUMMARY FOR TERMLY EXPENSES

This table shows that an estimate of Five Billion, Six Hundred Million Naira (₦5, 600,000,000.00) will be spent for termly expenses by schools and parents.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Seeing that we all want our economy to re-open and return to normalcy, we should also consider all factors involved in making this achievable, especially in the education sector.

Some of these factors have been made explicit in this article. We should however note that in this costing, COVID-19 safety measures for parents, teachers, care givers and all other staff of the school have not been duly considered. This means that the above costing is child’s play compared to reality.

Looking at the figures estimated above, and the total cost required to re-open and run our schools in a conducive and safe environment for our children during this pandemic, let us consider the following questions:

• Will schools be willing to carry the financial burden this decision will bring at no extra cost to the parents?
• Can all schools afford the cost of re-opening at this time?
• Are parents prepared to bear the additional cost of re-opening schools?
• Are parents willing to risk the lives of their children/wards should any compromising situation occur down the chain of the safety protocol?
• Is the Government willing to support with the provision of the basic materials and subsidization of transportation fares for students or even the insurance of its teachers?

In another twist, the upside for re-opening could be that local vendors will be contracted to produce and provide the necessary supplies (such as face masks, hand sanitizers/disinfectants, soap etc.) needed; thereby, bringing in more revenue and growing our economy. If this can be achieved without compromising the health and lives of children and teachers, it could be given some thoughts, since the economy must open someday.

THE WAY FORWARD!

I have been asked this question several times in the last 2 weeks since I began this conversation. A number of us have opined that the leveraging of technology is the way forward; that is, the introduction of virtual learning (online platforms and offline software/platforms) with a stint of television, radios, DVDs and satellite broadcasting blend. This use of technology can help us reach out to over 70% of the student population we have as a country.

As we are aware, the use of technology in this period is practically the only option that will not breach the COVID-19 protocol as a nation. Nonetheless, leveraging on technology comes with its own challenges and costs; howbeit, we cannot fold our hands and shy away from the obvious reality that this should become an intrinsic part of our New-Normal and should stay with us forever (at least in our generation).

For those of us that see it as expensive or difficult to use, it is a necessary expense we cannot escape. Just as the advent of the GSM shaped our communication and lifestyle, that is how virtual learning, if properly harnessed, will change the education sector in the best interest of the students, teachers, parents and all stakeholders. If you recall, GSM did not come cheap to us in 1999. We were billed per minute, network coverage was only in few state capitals and regions of the country, the cost of GSM phones were off-the-roof and the phones were ‘dumb’ and not ‘smart’. We however received this technology with open arms and that gave us (all stakeholders) the opportunity to improve on it. 20 years down the line we are better off as a country because we embraced the change and weathered the challenges.

We can repeat history in the education sector and other sectors – not allowing ourselves be limited by the challenges and hiccups that may arise as we leverage technology to fight against the limitation COVID-19 is causing the various sectors of the economy, especially the educational sector.

CONCLUSION

COVID-19 has only presented to us the obvious omission of technology in our education system; it is our responsibility to address it here and now even as we develop lasting frameworks and policies that will enable us achieve more technology-driven educational feats post-COVID-19.

I urge the government, parents, teachers, students and all stakeholders to brace up and face the new reality of embracing technology in the way we live, work and learn. There will be some challenges at the onset, but as we concert effort towards improving the quality and access to education, we may have no other option as a nation but to leverage technology in other to achieve these goals.

In the 3rd and final article on this series of the cost of re-opening our schools during the pandemic, we will be discussing about the basic ways to start virtual learning, the cost and possible challenges and ways to overcome them. Until then, stay safe and aid our children to continue learning.

THE COST OF REOPENING OUR SCHOOLS IN THE PANDEMIC

By Asawo, Ibifuro

The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic which led to lockdowns, emergency health and food crisis, loss of lives amongst other things has crippled economies across the globe.

The education sector is a major area the pandemic has dealt a blow to. Around the world, governments closed down schools in order to keep children and teachers safe as they all grapple to overcome the health emergency the world has found itself in.

In developed nations, school gates were closed but that did not stop academic activities. However, in most African countries, which includes Nigeria, the closure of school gates led to the abrupt end of academic activities in most schools at all levels of learning. Hence, while our children are ‘enjoying COVID-19 holidays’, their counterparts in other parts of the world continued learning and have made progress. They are able to achieve this feat because they have earlier integrated virtual learning into their educational curricular.

While many individuals may have divergent views about why we as a country have not been able to achieve same feat as other countries, it is obvious that as a nation we had not invested adequately in education and technology within and outside our schools. That is why once our school gates closed, academic activities ended in most schools.

With about two months gone in the school calendar and nothing tangible achieved, a number of state and private schools have embarked on television and radio lessons, with some states even venturing into e-learning. Also, a number of the private schools across the country have embarked on the use of virtual tools to continue learning even as they brush their way through various challenges ranging from lack of adequate power supply, poor internet access, high cost of data, lack of capacity amongst teachers, parents, etc. Aside these challenges, most private schools are saddled with the challenge of how to keep up with the cost of other adopted means of teaching (e.g. the virtual learning) and how to pay their staff: both academic and admin. These challenges and much more have led to the call to reopen schools.

This brings me to the crux of the matter in question – what is the cost of reopening our schools in the face of the pandemic without a cure or vaccine? To better understand the cost of reopening our schools, we may need to consider some various points of concern in the value chain. These various points of concern of sending our children to school and having them back home must be thoroughly x-rayed to guide our estimation of the cost involved in the of reopening schools.

For a child to go to school in Nigeria, depending on the class category, the following needs to be considered:

Transportation

After a parent prepares his/her child for school, there is often a mode of transportation involved in moving the child to school; this could involve public or private mode of transportation. In the case of public mode of transportation which over 80% of children use to school, the risk of breaching the safety protocols of COVID-19 may be high. Money changes hands, surfaces are touched, 2 metres physical distancing in the vehicles may be compromised and this could happen to nothing less than 70% of the children, putting in perspective that this is same for the caregivers, teachers and other school staff.

Sanitization of Pupils /Students and Surfaces

The old rule of washing your hands with soap and clean water has become very handy in our fight against the scourge. While it will be very easy for private schools to provide clean water and soap and or sanitizers for their students, it may come at a very huge cost to those in the public schools. The cost of providing this for a minimum of three (3) months may also be quite expensive for the private schools as well.

The schools will have to provide non-contact infrared thermometers to check the temperature of both students and staff of the school before they gain access into the school premises; this equipment does not come at a very cheap price.

What about the cost of sanitizing surfaces in the school environment every hour or after every 30 minutes to ensure that the surfaces are clean; or will this protocol be ignored to save cost?

This may work without much stress in private schools; but is bound to fail in a school like my alma mater where we do not have a fenced and gated school compound. Every part of the school’s perimeter gives us access into the school. So, how will such public schools cope with sanitization and the use of infrared thermometers as measures to keep our children safe? Will the government be willing to ensure that all public schools are fenced and gated to enforce and regulate the various sanitization measures required or will they ignore it because of the high cost involved?

Physical Distancing in School

Can you possibly regulate physical distancing with five or six-year-olds for as long as they stay in school five days in a week? Wait until it gets to their playtime and you will understand the cost it entails….

Furthermore, the typical and recommended class size for a classroom is 56sqm with a student population of between 25 – 35 students. If we are to adopt the social distancing protocol of 1.5m to 2m, it means that this same class size can only accommodate half or less than half the normal class population. What happens to the rest of the class? Perhaps we could batch the students into morning and afternoon classes; this may reduce the time the students will have to spend in the class for lessons to enable the school accommodate all the spill over students caused by the social distance protocol. On the other hand, will teachers be willing to receive the same salary for longer hours? Maybe it could be taken as part of their sacrifice; this too will be at a cost … Or will private and public schools commence expansion works in their schools to ensure that social distancing is taken into consideration as they maintain the same class size? I leave you to imagine this same scenario in public schools where we have over 50 students cramped in a classroom.

Of course, our assembly meetings may no longer be feasible; even the boarding house system especially in the public schools may no longer be considered as more hostels will be required with additional hostel masters and mistresses to enable the students adhere to all the required safety protocols. And if this is too much trouble, the hostels may be closed within this period; what then will be the fate of those students who reside outside the location of their schools? Perhaps, to handle this, we can ensure that all students are properly tested and confirmed negative before they are let into the hostels. Hmmm…we know that this will not suffice and it will come at a cost too!

Face Masking

The use of facemasks is one of the vital protocols established and it has been made compulsory in all public places; this will include schools if they reopen. How can you effectively manage a facemask on a five or six-year-old within a classroom environment? Will there be special face masks for these group of people? Will it be convenient to have masks on all through classes or will there be time to observe face mask breaks? What about our children with respiratory challenges? Will there be some exemptions for them? Will the exemption be risky for them? What about when the facemask goes bad or would not stay on the face of the child; whose place is it to ensure it does stay in the appropriate position. And in our public schools, how do the students handle the crowded or poorly ventilated classes with facemasks on?

Playtime

For the children in lower primary, every time is playtime! However, for those in the upper primary and secondary schools, they may observe their playtime at the scheduled playtime or break periods. At such times – except for video games and the likes – how possible is it for children to play without physical contact? Most schools may have to incur extra cost to maintain or sustain a good playtime for the children. May be the use of hand gloves will help; but I wonder where their face masks will be at that time in question. Your guess is as good as mine, the play quality will drop and there will be cost incurred to keep close to a normal play session.

Teachers and caregivers may be deployed during such play sessions to regulate and guide them through this period; this may make the play ‘less play’ but safe enough to gain the confidence of parents to bring their kids to school.

And for the type of public school I attended, playtime could be the period when all protocols may be completely forgotten, and the damage could be done. To allay my fears, they may ban all field and track related games, but what about our classroom running around? Who will monitor the senior boys in secondary schools? Which teacher will stay around to regulate their playtime or break period?

Mealtime

Food time is always an exciting time for children. How do we handle it? The table surfaces have to be cleaned and perhaps sanitized before they commence their meals; they will have to take off their facemasks and keep it safely before they start eating. For the younger ones, this could be a vulnerable period if not well handled as all the parts of the body through which the virus can be contracted are now left open. I guess the minders in the private schools will be on top of their game to ensure that our children do not fall prey.

For my brothers and sisters in the public school this is when we go to the cafeteria or mini markets to buy food. We become twice as vulnerable as our peers in private schools because we will be interfacing with third parties – the sellers of the food; this will also involve the exchange of money. What about the surface of our eating tables or the environment of eating…will the government provide all that will be required to sanitise the public schools? At what cost will it come to us? I hope our principals and teachers will know the importance of their stewardship and ensure that these sanitizing materials, when handed to them, are to serve the purpose; they are not to be resold or used for their personal benefits.

A cycle chart showing the various points to evaluate if schools were to reopen during this period of the pandemic.

The question now is, do we have public schools and private schools that can handle these areas of concerns effectively without defaulting; and at what cost will that come to all the stakeholders (parents, government, etc.)?

Conclusion

According to Paulo Coelho, “everything in life has its price”. Whether you decide to make things better or leave them the way they are, there is always a price. Often the price (cost) attached to things is based on individual or societal needs.

The economy must reopen as the lockdown has an untold cost on all of us. However, it will be in our best interest to begin to look out for less risky and cost-effective ways of reopening our economy. The use of technology is one sure way of getting things done. It has its inherent cost, but it may not be as expensive as blindly reopening sectors without taking full stock of what it may cost to reopen it. I hope our policy makers will rise to the task by counting the cost as they develop an action plan for the return of our children to school.

The use of virtual classes via television, radio, satellite, online (internet) and even DVDs (for those who cannot go online) is the way to go. This may not meet all our learning objectives, but it will reach out to over 80% of student population in Nigeria and meet over 60% of their learning needs without putting our children and their teachers in harm’s way!

This could help us strengthen our education sector and keep our children safe while we work hard with the rest of the world to find a proven cure or vaccine for the virus.

Do not panic, this is just a simple cost analysis exercise for your review!