CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the Study

The world is no doubt a “global village” made possible by increasingly complex and continuous nature of the scientific and technological inventions and innovations under the auspice of the concept Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It is, globally recognized and identified by the abbreviation ICT is a consortia of electronic technologies used for information storage and retrieval. To Olaore (2014) ICT, can be defined as computer based tools and techniques for gathering and using information. It encompasses the hardware and software, the network and several other devices (video, audio, photographic camera, etc.) that can convert information, images, and sound into common digital form. It includes electronic information in processing technologies such as computer and internet, as well as fixed-line telecommunication networks. ICT is an eclectic application of computing, communication, telecommunication and satellite technology (Yusuf, 2000 in Olaore, 2014).

According to Boritz (2000) ICT, is the emergence of tools of microelectronic and telecommunications that are used in the automatic acquisition, analysis, storage, retrieval, manipulation, management, control, movement, display, transmission, reception and interchange of qualitative and quantitative data. Hence, from government, economic/commerce, health, media, transportation, sport and importantly education, the use of ICT has become inevitable. In numerous government activities such as policy/programmes, planning; revenue generation; budgeting and general control. In the economy/businesses such as buying and selling of stocks and wares, ordering and clearance of products and goods, depositing, withdrawing and transferring monies, the use of ICT is dominant.

Similarly, the use of innovations in ICT has made ailment and treatments in the field of health and medicine more accurate, efficient and effective. In media information dissemination, reliability and accuracy have been greatly aided by ICT. Similarly, in transportation e.g. flight and accommodations booking/cancelling, destination search have been simplified with the click of buttons on keyboards.

In the area of education, monumental impacts of ICT reflecting teaching, learning and research, have been documented (Yusuf, 2005). The significance of ICT to education have been variously displayed to include accelerate, enrich, and deepen skills, to motivate and engage students in learning, to help relate school experience to works practices, create economic viability for tomorrow’s workers, as well as strengthening teaching and contribute to radical change in schools (Olatorera,2014). The understanding and adoption of ICT as an instrumentation to quality and effective education has gained worldwide attraction. United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has variously maintained that, Education for new emerging societies requires ICTs to facilitate large-scale learning needs for social and economic development (UNESCO, 2002; 2003; 2004).

At the African Summit of the World Economic Forum held in Durban, South Africa, in June 2003 the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) launched the e-Schools Initiative, intended to equip all African high schools with ICT equipment including computers, radio and television sets, phones, fax machines, communication equipment, scanners, digital cameras, and copiers, among other things. It is also meant to connect African students to the Internet (Aginam, 2006).

The introduction and use of ICT in the educational system especially in secondary schools in Nigerian garnered momentum around 2004. The Federal Government of Nigeria, in the (National Policy on Education) Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), recognizes the prominent role of ICTs in the modern world, and has integrated ICTs into education in Nigeria (Emmanuel and Barau, 2013). To this end, it has launched an ICT-driven project known as School Net (www.snng.org).The goal was to equip all schools in Nigeria with computers and communications technologies (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2006).

Inspite this development, education specifically, secondary school students’ overall performance in both National Examinations Council (NECO) West African Examinations Council (WAEC) performance continue to be dismal. From 2005-2008 less than 30% of the over 1 million candidates that sat and obtained at least 5 credits including Mathematics and English (Uduh, 2009). Similarly, the November/December 2009 NECO examination recorded 234,682 candidates and only 4,223 (1.8%) passed at least 5 credits in subjects including Mathematics and English. It is therefore, disappointing, to see that after 12 years of educational instructions over 98% of the candidates still failed final examination is to say the least, very frightening (Daily Trust: Editorial, 23th/05/2010). Thus, to address this ugly development and considering the perceived significance of ICT to education, could the educational system in Nigeria with regards to secondary school education be aiming at revolutionary methods and approaches to addressing the drifts in the quality and quantity of products? Answer to this question forms the background through which this study was conceived.

1.1       Statement of the Problem

It is observed that in Nigeria, both the federal and state governments strive to provide education to the citizenry as constitutional duty. However, in all such attempts, ICT provision and use, especially for secondary schools remains conspicuously dismissal. This was contrary to perceptions of scholars for example by Olaore (2014), that a major tenet of the policies that supported the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education was that they can become catalysts for change and improvements in both teaching and learning. Some countries have made considerable progress in bringing networked ICT into education and made it possible for teachers and learners to use them on daily basis.

In many other cases, however, implementation of policies have not been a consequence of systematic analysis and reflection. As a consequence, we still know little about the impact and effectiveness of ICT in education. This review illustrate this contradiction as it affects secondary schools in Kaduna educational zone in Nigeria.

1.2       Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the use of ICT in teaching and learning in Kaduna Educational zone. Categorically, the following are guide to the study:-

a)             Examine the roles ICT plays in teaching and learning in secondary schools in government secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate.

b)             To understand the extent to which teaching and learning in secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate connects’ to ICT.

c)             Investigate the challenges to effective adoption and use of ICT in teaching and learning in secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate.

d)             To review activities, process, action that could enhance use of ICT in teaching and learning in Kaduna Inspectorate.

1.3       Significance of the Study

            The importance of the study lies in the area of creating awareness on the need for government to encourage and support the use if ICT as both teaching and learning aid in its secondary schools as a globally tested and proven effective instrument to addressing the negative drifts in educational performance of secondary school students and as a prelude to harnessing the multifaceted benefits of ICT for socio-economic development of the nation.

1.4       Research Questions

The following questions will be answered by this study:

a)            In what ways do ICT apply to teaching and learning in public secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate?

b)            To what extend is ICT used for teaching and learning in public secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate?

c)            What are the prospects and challenges of using ICT for teaching and learning in public secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate?

d)            What are the possible ways of encouraging and sustaining the use of ICT for teaching and learning in public secondary schools in Kaduna Inspectorate? 

1.5       Scope of the Study

            This study will be conducted in selected secondary schools in Kaduna educational Inspectorate. The concern will be on the active and conscience review of the research participant’s use of the institutional provision of ICT for teaching and learning in the school.

1.6       Limitation of the Study

This study was limited to public secondary schools in Kaduna North local government area. Time and finance were the major constraints of this researcher to limiting the study to this area; however, efforts were made to ensure the proper administration and collation of the instruments of data collection.

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