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Babatunde Alabi Alege and Stephen Olufemi Afolabi<br />

establish computer laboratories and classrooms equipped with interactive white boards and other<br />

teacher-aided <strong>learning</strong> tools.<br />

The education sector has been affected by ICTs worldwide. Consequently, the processes of teaching,<br />

<strong>learning</strong> and research have also been affected (Yusuf, 2005). The Federal Government of Nigeria, in<br />

the National Policy on Education (2004), recognizes the prominent role of ICTs in the modern world,<br />

and has integrated ICTs into education in Nigeria. To actualize this goal, the document states that<br />

government will provide basic infrastructure and training at the primary school. In the new 9-year<br />

Basic Education curriculum, Computer Studies/ICT has been made compulsory at the lower, middle<br />

and upper levels of education. The government also intended to provide necessary infrastructure and<br />

training for the integration of ICTs in the secondary school system. Adomi and Kpangban (2010)<br />

noted that this was not the first attempt the Nigerian government made to introduce computer<br />

education in schools. In 1988, the Nigerian government enacted a policy on computer education. The<br />

plan was to establish pilot schools and diffuse computer education innovation first to all secondary<br />

schools, and then to primary schools. Unfortunately, the project did not really take off beyond the<br />

distribution and installation of personal computers (Okebukola, 1997; cited by Aduwa-Ogiegbaen and<br />

Iyamu, 2005). Nkerenwem (1996) identified recent effort made by the Government towards the ICT<br />

Development which includes the following:<br />

Launching of the National Telecommunications policy (September, 2000)<br />

Development of a comprehensive science and Technology policy. (2001)<br />

Development and launching of the National Information Technology Policy (2001)<br />

Establishment of the National Information Development Agency (NITDA) (2001)<br />

Launching of the Nigerian Satellite Systems Programme by the National space Research and<br />

Development Agency (NASRDA) (2001)<br />

Development of the National Infrastructure Backbone (NIIB)<br />

Development and launching of the Mobile Internet Units, these are buses equipped with computer<br />

systems and other accessories with a VSAT installed in the buses for Internet access. Others are:<br />

SchoolNet Nigeria<br />

Computer-in-School project<br />

One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) project<br />

Interactive Radio program; and<br />

NEPAD e-school Initiative<br />

In terms of ICT and teacher development, the National Policy on Education (2004) stipulates that<br />

teacher education shall continue to take cognizance of changes in methodology and the curriculum<br />

and teachers shall be regularly exposed to innovations in their profession. Similarly the National<br />

Policy on Teacher Education (FME, 2007) developed a vision “to produce quality, highly skilled,<br />

knowledgeable and creative teachers based on explicit performance standards through pre-service<br />

and in-service programs to raise a generation of students who can compete globally’ (p.6). The goal is<br />

to ‘ensure teachers are trained and recruited to teach world-class standards and continue to develop<br />

their competence over their entire career’ (p.6). ICT was identified as one of the conditions for the<br />

achievement of the goal, as ‘the training of teachers on strategies of collaboration, reflection on<br />

enforcement of ICT practices and action research’ (p.5). According to Hennessy et al (2010), bringing<br />

ICT into the classroom can have a considerable impact on the practice of teachers, in particular when<br />

ICT is conceptualised as a tool that supports a real change in the pedagogical approach. Not only do<br />

the teachers need to change their roles and class organisation, they also need to invest energy in<br />

themselves and their students in preparing, introducing and managing new <strong>learning</strong> arrangements.<br />

Okebukola (1997) however pointed out that the chalkboard and textbook still continue to dominate<br />

classroom activities as computer is still not part of classroom technology in more than 90 percent of<br />

Nigerian public schools. Many barriers have been attributed to lack of use of technology in the<br />

teaching and <strong>learning</strong> process. In a survey conducted by Adomi and Kpangban (2010) on the<br />

application of ICT in Nigerian schools, it was reported that limited/poor information infrastructure;<br />

lack/inadequate ICT facilities in schools; poor ICT policy/project implementation strategies and<br />

frequent electricity interruptions ranked very high as causes of low ICT application.<br />

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