The founder of Chaste Intellect International School, Afees Adelowo Jimoh, has identified infrastructure challenges and curriculum rigidity as one of the issues facing education in the country.
According to the education advocate, reinventing technology within the school curriculum has been a matter of balancing vision with pragmatism because the reality, like many schools in the Global South, involves infrastructure challenges and curriculum rigidity.
However, he said innovation is not always about complete overhaul, it is often about creative adaptation.
“While we currently use smartboards to encourage more audio-visual learning, we are transitioning from smartboards to tablets/iPads, with the aim of fully integrating digital learning platforms such as Google Classroom and Apple Education. Our teachers are being gradually trained to use these tools meaningfully—not just for superficial engagement but for more data-driven instruction and personalised learning.
Beyond tools, we have embedded elements of digital citizenship and technological responsibility in our Circle Time and Civic Education, teaching students to navigate a digital world responsibly and ethically,” he stated.
He advised education formulation policy makers to humanise education policy to improve effective learning.
“Teachers are not robots—they require emotional support, recognition, and fair compensation to function optimally. They must be exposed to and provided with many opportunities for CPD. Without adequate teachers’ support, I see no way we can even contemplate effective teaching,” he noted.
Jimoh also advised that the curricular must be redesigned. Learning, he said, must move from fact-recall to transferable skills such as creativity, adaptability, and collaboration. Without this shift, learner-centred learning will remain aspirational. “Many of our board exams, including WAEC and NECO, are heavily knowledge-based: definitions, lists, book-specific answers, prescribed answers, intense societal and parental pressure to perform, and thus limit effective teaching. Many teachers are torn between teaching for life and teaching for exams. In summary, infrastructure, compensation, and a redefined curriculum must go hand-in-hand if we are serious about transforming learning outcomes,” he stated.
With a background in technical innovation, the how has this rubbed off on your students?
Founder of Chaste Intellect International School, said this has strongly influenced its ethos and direction.
“Even within the constraints of a dual curriculum and a system heavily reliant on exam-based outcomes, we have made deliberate efforts to instil a culture of curiosity, creativity, and digital fluency. We have established platforms like our Coding and Robotics Club, which goes beyond the regular curriculum and allows students to experiment with coding, design thinking, and project-based learning. We have also infused innovation into everyday school culture by rewarding problem-solving and allowing room for experimentation in class projects. These are small, steady steps towards developing the 21st-century learner, even within a traditional educational framework,” Jimoh disclosed.
Jimoh revealed that global education policies increasingly aim to move from knowledge-based to skills-based education, yet the pace of policy evolution varies drastically. “While many countries are reforming curricula to foster collaboration, critical thinking, and digital literacy, others—including Nigeria—are still tethered to rigid, exam-centric systems, which have become a bane for educators like us to move forward.”
He emphasised that he prioritise continuous professional development and strategic networking. “I subscribe to journals, attend leadership summits (both physical and virtual), and maintain correspondence with thought leaders in education across the globe. I also spend time with my team reflecting on practice and keeping an ear to the ground regarding new educational technologies and philosophies.
Most importantly, I try to contextualise every trend. We do not jump on every global bandwagon—we adopt what fits our philosophy, our learners, and our local realities,” he stated.
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