NewGlobe Plans Collaboration with Government on Technology-enabled Education Systems

Funmi Ogundare​

​NewGlobe, an e-learning platform, has expressed its preparedness to collaborate with​ visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems.

Speaking at the 14th Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) with the theme, ‘Building a Sustainable Education Ecosystem in Africa’,​ organised by Edumark Consulting, in Lagos, the Regional Director of Communications, NewGlobe, Mr. Lanre Dairo, reiterated the importance of quality education and how it can help solve society’s problems.

Dairo, whose organisation is the technical partner to strategic transformational interventions, including EKOEXCEL in Lagos, EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation) in Edo State and KwaraLEARN in Kwara State, also stressed the importance of collaboration among players in the education sector.​
According to him, “players in the education sector should collaborate more. Collaboration is vital. We should not see ourselves as competitors, but one unit driving the growth of our sector and country.”

Highlighting the edutech platform’s methodology, Dairo disclosed that the company invests significantly in classroom management to improve learning outcomes.​ ​

“New Globe continuously study the science of learning and pedagogy. It’s a continuous process for us. We have special schools where we observe how learning is going on; and we ask ourselves two questions, how can we improve learning outcomes and make it more cost-effective for the users without diluting the impact?
“Even in private schools, we should have a continuous iterative development goal in our classroom. We should continuously observe what works,” he said.
The regional director also explained why his organisation is not working with private schools yet, saying,” we work at scale. In Lagos, we work with 1,011 schools and over 400,000 pupils.​

“Unfortunately, there’s no private school that has that kind of scale. We provide quality education at a low cost; to do that, we need that scale. Unfortunately, the private sector in Nigeria doesn’t offer that kind of scale. Still, we are exploring working with associations and advocacy groups.”​
Earlier, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, stressed the importance of expanding education and increasing access to underprivileged people.​

“In Lagos, we acknowledge the need to expand education to reach both rich and poor. We recognise the contribution of private schools in this area. In Lagos, we have more private schools than public schools. It is in the ratio of 22 to one. We need to work together. The government is responsible for providing education, but we must partner to increase access.”
The Chief Executive Officer,​ Edumark Consult, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde appealed to educators to innovate and be creative.
“Every educator must remain creative because things are changing minute by minute in the education sector. The mindset must change for us to see and understand that the future is no longer exactly how we perceive it today. As such, all stakeholders in the education space must be ready to key in and embrace change,” she said.

The event, which​ seeks to transform Nigeria’s education sector through seminars, mentorship and showcasing edu-innovations, witnessed​ critical players discussing the challenges, solutions and prospects of a better education system.It featured leading players in education, technology and business.
Apart from Nigerian participants, the seminar/exhibition also featured guests from Tanzania, the United States, Spain and Finland, including leading firms from Finland. Finns, Axel Sointu and Patrik Bredbacka, presented a paper titled ‘Co-creating a sustainable education model: The Finnish experience’ during the School Business Clinic. The country’s education Ambassador, Marjaana Sall, also attended the exhibition.