REPLACING ROTE LEARNING WITH STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING.

The education system in my country, Nigeria, is quite complex, with numerous challenges and issues that need to be addressed. It is no news that our educational system in Nigeria is going down the drain. Most institutions of learning are living in their past glory. What was obtainable in the 1990s is somewhat better than what we have now, even with the advancement of technology.

Like I earlier stated, our issues and challenges in the educational sector are numerous, but I will be focusing on one of the many issues that bothers me a lot: the problem of rote learning (learning by memorising and not understanding). Many people might see it as nothing serious, but the effect has eaten so deep that we now have graduates that people doubt if they truly are graduates.

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One thing I have come to understand about most of our schools in Nigeria and the methods of teaching is that most times we do not have the time to actually study and understand, rather due to the nature of our curriculum. We do a lot of cramming (memorization), so much so that one has to cram a whole material just for the sake of passing the course and not actually to understand. I would not completely blame the students for memorising lecture notes just to pass; some of the lecturers are also at fault.

I remember most of my courses from my undergraduate programme. I had to memorise so many things just so I could pass; the lecturers wanted the exact thing that they gave us; hence, I felt there was little or no need to read other materials for proper understanding. I had lecturers who would fail you just because you didn't give the exact definition that was given. This made most of us lazy; we did little or no research in most of our courses since it was not "needed". This has resulted in graduates who have little or no in-depth knowledge of their field of specialisation. You meet a graduate of English who is very poor in both speaking and writing, and one cannot help but wonder how that person is a graduate or an agricultural science graduate who cannot tell you the basic things involved when it comes to the cultivation of certain food crops, to mention but a few.

This issue has eaten so deep, not just in our higher institutions but also in the very foundation of education, the primary schools. It has gotten so bad that the Joint Admission Matriculation Board in charge of conducting examinations to gain admission into universities and other colleges had to reduce their cutoff marks to 160 for degree programmes, 120 and 100 respectively for diploma and colleges of education programmes. I was very disappointed when it was officially announced. I see it as a means of encouraging these students to become more lazy, even with all the technology that will aid in learning. It is very unfortunate that we have been wired to learn just for exam sake and not to develop an understanding of the subject matter, which is really sad.

This has encouraged laziness; students are no longer curious or inquisitive. Most have been discouraged from exploring new ideas and asking questions since all that is required to pass is rote learning. Most students cannot think outside the box and are poor when it comes to problem solving and even the development of practical skills.

I graduated from one of the "best universities" in the country, but I remember writing practical reports on practicals we never did. At first, it was hilarious writing the results of a practical work we never did, but we got used to it with time. Even at the master's level, I had a few lecturers who wanted us to quote their notes verbatim; if not, we would not get our complete marks. They have turned the learning process into a copy-and-paste kind of process.

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WHAT TO ADD TO THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
I will train and employ more capable teachers who would be well equipped with all the necessary materials and modern technology used in teaching, and I will also improve the teacher-student ratio, which would help in the classroom as the teacher would engage all students actively in the learning process without anyone left behind to share their views on every topic taught. By so doing, every student would be carried along, and this would minimise or eliminate the method of memorization needed to pass any course. I would ensure that teaching and learning should be centred on discussion sessions, practical approaches, and hands-on activities to foster better understanding and assimilation, while at the same time allowing for creativity and allowing the students to develop problem-solving skills and critical thinking; hence, the need to revise our curriculum to only relevant courses that will be needed in the real world.

Personally, as an educator, I have used most of these approaches, and I can boldly say they were effective. I am proud of the outcome. In short, I was able to learn new things from my learners because I made them understand the need to learn, not just to pass their assessment but as a necessity.

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