Expert Advocates Adequate Use of ICT in Education Mgt

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Director, Centre for Information and Technology and Management, Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Oyeranmi Adigun, has called for massive funding and deployment of ICT in the education sector for improved performance.

Adigun, who was the guest speaker at the recent graduation ceremony of Bafuto Institute of Management and Information Technology, Lagos, regretted that the country has not fully embraced ICT in the sector, that is why cases of corruption, fraud, injustice, and delay still persist.

In a paper titled ‘ICT: Panacea to Institutional Maladministration’, he said there is a broad consensus that ICTs have the potential to make a significant contribution to fight fraud both in Institutional and organisational sectors.

“By facilitating the flow of information between government institutions and citizens, new technologies can promote transparency, openness and accountability and civic participation.”

He said dissemination and making information available in public domain to students, staff, parents and guests about the institution, curriculum, programmes, tuition fees, among others hell to curb hoarding of information thereby reduce inflow of people into offices and restrict third-party agent from exhorting money from innocent individuals.

He stated that ICT in education changes the view of learning from teacher-centered to student-centered learning system.

“It enables students to interact and receive quicker feedback from instructors and gives access to external educational resources and assists administrators in performing their duties effectively.”

With ICT, Adigun said teachers and learners no longer have to rely on printed books and other materials in physical libraries and bookshops to meet their educational needs. “Student information on their academics’ performance, fees and administration can be tracked accurately in real-time, accurate reports to assist the management in strategic and policy decisions.”

He stated that CBT has made the examination process smoother than ever and offers multiple benefits to candidates and administrators in administering, grading and scaling up the process.

In research, he said it encourages creativity and reduces plagiarism. He added that e-payment will solve accounting errors.

The Director of Studies, Adekunle Banjo described technology as the new oil. He said about 50 per cent of the world’s population is below the age of 25, youths will be key in the future of ICT.

He urged youths to seek to use ICT tools for the benefit of the nation and environment.