There are developments in Nigerian education sector which indicate some level of ICT application in secondary schools. The Federal Government of Nigeria, in the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004) recognizes the prominent role of ICT in the modern worlds, and has integrated ICT into education in Nigeria. To actualize this goal, the document states that government will provide basic infrastructure and training at the primary school. At the junior secondary school, computer education has been made a pre-vocational elective, and is a vocational elective at the senior secondary school. It is also the intention of government to provide necessary infrastructure and training for the integration of ICT in the secondary school system.
It should be noted that 2004 was not the first attempt the Nigerian government made to introduce computer education in schools. In 1988, the Nigerian government enacted a policy on computer education. The plan was to establish pilot schools and diffuse computer education innovation first to all secondary schools, and then to primary schools. Unfortunately, the project did not really take off beyond the distribution and installation of personal computers (Okebukola as cited in Aduwa-Ogiegbaen and Iyamu, 2005). The computer is not part of classroom technology in more than 90% of Nigerian public schools. This implies that the chalkboard and textbooks continue to dominate classroom activities in most Nigerian secondary schools.
The Nigerian Federal Government has commissioned a Mobile Internet Unit (MIU) operated by the Nigerian National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The MIU is a locally-made bus that has been converted into a mobile training and cyber centre. Its interior has ten workstations, all networked and connected to the internet. The MIU is also equipped with printers, photocopiers and a number of multimedia facilities. Internet is provided via VSAT with a 12m dish mounted on the roof of the bus. It is also equipped with a small electric generator to ensure regular power supply. The MIU takes the internet to places, areas and various primary and high schools (Ajayi, 2003). The number of business is so small; however, that most rural areas and schools have not yet been covered.
Although efforts have been made to ensure that ICTs are available and used in Nigerian secondary schools, the level of uptake is still low. Most schools, both private and government, do not offer ICT training programmes (Goshit, 2006). Okwudishu (2005) discovered that the unavailability of some ICT component in school hampers teachers’ use of ICTs. Lack of adequate search skills and access point in the school were reported as factors inhibiting the use of the internet by secondary school teachers (Kaku, 2005). The absence of ICT equipment in most Nigerian secondary schools leads students to resort to cybercafés for internet access. Most cybercafé clients in Nigeria are students (Adomi, Okiy and Ruteyan, 2003).
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