Challenges and Opportunities of

Integrating ICT in Education in Nigeria

Presented at the International Teachers

Conference on Digital Innovative Education,
March 2022.

Kawure Jibril Hussein MSc, MCPN, MNCS, MCP, MCSA

Center Director Prof. Iya Abubakar
Community Resource Center. North East
The development of ICT in education in
Nigeria
• According to Hare (2007) mostly private schools
in the urban centers, are the one which are using
ICTs
• Ottevanger et al (2007) found that, even in
private schools, ICTs are mostly used for
administration purposes.
• In most of the schools and education programmes
teachers are not yet using ICT as a tool for
enhancing teaching and learning in their subjects.
 The Development of ICT in Education in
Nigeria
• Efforts to develop ICT in teacher training colleges started in
2002 through the ICT-connect-TED programme.
• In 2004, the project managed to provide 44 teachers training
colleges with computers and networking infrastructures.
• Although teacher training colleges had the necessary ICT
facilities since 2004, teachers graduating from these colleges
are not able to embrace ICT use in teaching (Kafyulilo,
2010)
• Its not yet established from research why these teachers can
not use technology despite the training they attended
The development of ICT in education in
Nigeria
Some studies report that, the delay in ICT
development in education in Nigeria is caused
by the apparent lack of commitment by the
government, schools and teachers.
However, Kafyulilo (2010, 2011) reports that
the challenges that have been hindering
technology integration in science and
mathematics in Nigeria secondary schools are
such as:
 Inadequate resources from the
government for ICT
Most of the schools, particularly government
schools in Nigeria, experience a shortage of
technological tools
Some schools have computers which are not
working, while other schools have computers
only for administrative purposes
There are also schools which do not have even
a single computer or a radio or a TV for
teaching and learning process
Limited teachers’ technological
knowledge
• Majority of teachers acquired their diploma and degrees at
the time when computers were not used in education
• The idea of ICT integration in education did not take into
account the teachers’ knowledge (ICT push).
• Schools have computers but teachers don’t know how to
use those computers to support teaching and learning
• Majority of teachers can use computers for administrative
purposes: writing tests (MS word), preparation of school
database (Excel) and communication (Internet)
 Limited teachers knowledge of
integrating technology in teaching

Although some of the teachers have the basic

computer operation skills, majority of them do
not know how a computer or other
technological tool can be used in teaching and
learning.
To majority of teachers, it is difficult for them
to establish the relationship between
technology, pedagogy and content
 The curriculum
Some teachers tend to rely on the syllabus in
the preparation of their lessons.
Unfortunately our syllabi are still old and do
not address the issue of technology as one of
the teaching resources
Some teachers complain that students who are
oriented to learn with computers might not be
able to answer the question more appropriately
in the exams
 Teachers attitudes
Some teachers have negative attitudes towards
ICT in education
Majority of teachers claim that students who
are used to work on ICT, can not produce a
good output without an ICT tool
Some teachers believe that with the use of ICT
students can engage in some unethical acts,
thus, teachers ban mobile phones and internet
use among students.
Absences of Electricity in some schools
The use of ICT relies on electricity, and some schools
barely have electricity.
This is as well true for the percentage of students and
schools that enjoy electricity in their context
Even the schools to mention, have electricity only in
the administrative blocks and not in classrooms.
Since most of ICT tools requires electricity for their
operation, it becomes difficult to implement them in
such schools.
 Power rationing problem

Some schools are connected to electricity, but

being connected to electricity is no longer a big
deal in Nigeria.
Teachers are discouraged from using ICT due to
untimely and uninformed electricity cut down
To avoid inconveniences that are caused by the
sudden electricity cut down teachers avoid to
prepare lessons that requires the use of ICT
Lack of internet connection in schools
Teachers always find it very easy to use
internet based animations for science
lessons, than making their own animations.
Opportunities
Despite the above mentioned challenges,
there are still a lot of opportunities that the
government, schools and teachers can use to
enhance their technology integration
Such opportunities includes:
Presence of ICT in education policy
In the previous ICT integration in education
was being done without a policy framework
to guide the implementation.
Nigeria has not been able to successfully
implement the National Policy on Education
which could provide the framework for ICT
integration in education.
Presence of highly motivated teachers
For any education policy or innovations, to
be successfully implemented it needs to be
accepted by teachers
In Nigeria, teachers agree that ICT is a useful
tool for transforming classroom practices.
This can be a good instrument towards a
successful development of ICT in education
in Nigeria
The development of integration
framework
As said earlier, majority of teachers do not know
how a computer can be integrated in the teaching
and learning process.
The development of technological content
knowledge (TCK) framework which guides the
integration of technology, can help teachers to
understand how ICT is used in education
Learning of the framework can have a far
reaching impact in the development of technology
integration competencies among teachers
The growing concept of teachers
collaboration

Teachers have for a long time worked in

isolations, whenever they face any difficult as
they work with technology they use to give up.
The idea of teachers collaboration in design
team is a useful opportunity for teachers to
share their knowledge, skills, abilities and
experiences as they design their technology
integrated lessons (Nihuka, 2011).
The increasing accessibility to Mobile
devices
The increasing access to mobile devices among
people of all levels brings up new hopes of having
technological tools available in schools.
A mobile device can play a role of a radio, a TV, a
computer, a digital camera, ipod or mp3
(Kafyulilo, 2011).
Newly emerging mobile devicess supports
programs such as Ms words, Excel, PPT, etc.
Most important, Most of the modern mobile
devices have internet.
The increasing accessibility to internet

All mobile phone companies now days are

offering an internet service through the
modem which are sold at the cost of
approximately 30000 Tsh.
Through this modems, the problem of
internet in schools can be solved
If more teachers will have access to internet
through their mobile phones and laptops,
more internet use in teaching can be expected.
Conclusion
If we look on the challenges and opportunities, we
realize that most of the challenges related to
materials can be easily worked out through the
available opportunities.
However, our current opportunities do not address
the problem of teachers’ technological knowledge
and technology integration competencies
Thus, more effort should be put on this aspect.
We are glad that the Ministry of Education in
collaboration with other organizations such as
GESCI are investing on this attribute
Thank you for your attention