Digital Integration into the Nigerian Educational System: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

In the last ten years, there have been conscious attempts by every nation to integrate digital tools into their educational system especially at the tertiary level. Nigeria is no exception. The policymakers in Nigeria at the federal and state levels have felt the need to integrate Information Communication Technology (ICT) in their educational policies. It is felt that in this globalized world the country must embrace digital technology to enhance support teaching and learning environment. It is the belief that in the present globalized world every nation should embrace digital technology to be competitive and also have knowledge-based society as well as information society or as Castells, (1996) has put it “Network Society” and also Perevozchikova, et.al. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has also made it imperative that countries should advance towards e-learning. The future of education is therefore intertwined with Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). The Nigerian government has realized that the new normal or post-COVID-19 pandemic environment has made the traditional method of teaching and learning outmoded. It is therefore in this regard that most policymakers in Nigeria are advocating an advance towards ICT hence there is what we can call paradigm-shift in terms of teaching and learning in Nigeria now. This paper discusses the Nigerian guidelines on digital education highlighting the challenges and the prospects of digital education. It concludes that digital education must be embraced because the post-COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible to continue with the traditional mode of teaching/learning.