Access to University Education in Africa under the COVID-19 Pandemic:
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Date
2024
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Novena University Law Journal
Abstract
The COVID 19 was a contagious disease without any
endorsed vaccine, at the initial stages, but exigencies
compelled the introduction of preventive measures to
curtail escalation, and such measures later got
recognition as the „new normal way‟ of doing things.
The paper as such investigates the directives of the United
Nations and other regulatory bodies as they conceived
policies particularly that while the lock down directives were
on, schooling and education should go on by distance
arrangement. The paper observes that if education had to
run while students studied from home, the role of
Information communication technology and learning
devices on networking, collaboration and interaction
among students and academic staff cannot be overemphasised. The paper notes that the pre-COVID-19
university access was not impressive on account of
inadequate teaching infrastructure and learning
environment. It argues that infrastructural deficit rather
hindered most states in Africa taking full benefit of
information communication technology and the internet for learning. The paper examines the issue of development and
links it with good governance, investigating if successive
governments‟ financial commitments to education in Nigeria
had been adequate. It notes that if states have not done well
in terms of giving the right infrastructure to grow a nation,
university education‟s prospects of contributing to human
capital enhancement cannot be realised. It observes that
the high rate of patronage will not be justified with a
declining standard of university education owing to public
sector corruption and inadequate funding. The situation is
not made better by the COVID-19 global pandemic and the
inability to explore as appropriate, the online learning
facilities. The hitherto inadequate access has been further
compounded. The paper adopts doctrinal model of
investigation just as it recommends good governance to
effect development. It concludes that non access to teaching
facilities during COVID-19 has further given a boost to
the out-of school children population.
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Citation
Olayinka OF; Olayinka AO & Taiwo TF, ‘Access to University Education in Africa Under the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Prospects and Challenges of the Information Communication Technology Towards Bridging Learning Gap in Nigeria’ (2024) (9) Novena University Law Journal; ISSN-L 2579-12X) 05 – 26;