The Vice-Chancellor, Veritas University, Abuja, Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, has called for data subsidy for students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria to address specific challenges limiting online teaching amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Vice-Chancellor made the call while briefing journalists on activities lined up for the University’s ninth convocation ceremony scheduled to take place on the 30th of January.
He further stated that the government must be determined to tackle the problem of the dearth of infrastructure in the sub-Tertiary education sector.
According to him, “We need a lot of development in ICT infrastructure. The committee of Vice-chancellors had in November last year sent some delegates to the Ministry of Communication to negotiate for low-cost data for students. I am sure that if the government is able to subsidise data for students and universities, it will go a long way in assisting online education in Nigeria“
Speaking on the 9th convocation ceremony of the university, Prof. Ichoku stated that the university will award first-class certificates to 32 graduands among the 421 who have completed their course of studies and met all necessary requirements.
Ichoku noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed teaching and learning as universities around the world have had to migrate from face-to-face engagements to online learning.
He further explained that online learning has been challenging in Nigeria due to shortage of Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and high cost of data.
“This is a new experience for most schools in Nigeria. We found ourselves doing things we were supposed to do in the next five years. This young generation have the potentials to adapt except that we lack the facilities for them to excel”
“The difficulty we have is in terms of the cost of data for parents who have to pay extra and students who have limited resources to buy data or computers. It is particularly more visible in the public universities. There, you have a lot of students who are sponsoring themselves through school unlike in the private institutions where people who send their kids there are mostly middle class,” he said.
He said the convocation which would be attended both virtually and physically would hold in strict compliance with COVID-19 guidelines as established by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
While explaining some projects being undertaken by the university, the VC said construction of new hostels and shopping mall were on to cater for the needs of students.
Ichaku said staff of the institution were paid full salary during the lockdown in 2020, noting that the gesture was a big motivation for them to perform their duties at the period.
He observed that enrolment of students into the university had increased tremendously as over 1000 students have already been admitted into its 100 level programmes.
“It is a tough and turbulent academic session for us. But we have managed to put through because we quickly migrated online after the government shut down schools. We were online until we finished our second semester in August. Our saving grace was that we have a robust ICT unit”, he stated.
Nnenna.O
