Islamic schools tackling e-learning challenges

From Halima Musa, Kano

The old method of teaching for long hours is still practiced in many schools including institutions of higher learning in Nigeria as e-learning continues to advance in developed

countries. Schools proprietors and teachers must learn modern teaching techniques if

they should remain relevant.

E-learning challenge has in particular made the proprietors of Model Islamic schools to meet with experts on telecommunication to map out strategies on how to change their approach to learning.

A one-day workshop was jointly organized by the Association of Model Islamic schools (AMIS), Kano branch, Hanan International College and Echo Telecommunication to acquaint the proprietors of the model Islamic schools on the need to face the challenge and to set example for others.

While explaining the importance of adopting the e-learning system in model Islamic schools, the Director of Hanan International College, Engineer Bashir Adamu Aliyu, said technology is changing the world very fast and for schools to remain relevant, they have to also move at the same pace. “As model Islamic schools, we should be the pacesetters in addressing modern e-learning challenges,” he said. He observed that any school that decides not to adopt modern leaning methods would definitely become irrelevant in the modern world.

Also, a Google developer, Ibrahim I Usman, said any school that is not using e-learning technology nowadays would be replaced by those using it. Usman, who is the Google coordinator for the North, said as the situation is now, no one has a clue as to what will happen in the future; saying the wise thing to do is to move with the time.

He noted that in the past, the environment where learning took place was unfashionable, citing the type of chalkboard used instead of white boards and projectors.

He said e-learning is fully in place in some schools across Africa. Commenting on the method of teaching students, the director of Hanan International College Engineer Bashir Adamu Aliyu said more emphasis should be given to creativity. He said much as literary work is important to the child, harnessing his talent to make him more creative is equally important.

“Creativity and knowledge should be given to students hand in hand because if you give students knowledge without allowing them to use their creativeness, you are not giving them the best.”

He maintained that schools should stop producing students for jobs that do not exist and should give emphasis to harnessing students’ talents to make them more creative so that even without jobs, they could still live and make a living using their ingenuity.

He further explained that teachers must improve their e-learning methods. “Teachers must also keep with their time because if they decide to remain stagnant in this age, they will soon become irrelevant in the school system,” he said.

He implored the proprietors to incorporate e-learning methods in their schools so that others would see and copy from them.“As proprietors of model Islamic schools, we are supposed to set the pace for others to copy. There should be

a paradigm shift from the way we operate,” he said.