Stakeholders urge schools to produce adaptive learners

The Special Adviser to the Minister of Education on STEM, Adetola Salau.

Education stakeholders have called on Nigerian schools to focus on producing adaptive learners capable of thinking critically, creating solutions and responding effectively to the demands of a rapidly changing world.
They made the call on Thursday during a panel discussion at the 2026 Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition held in Oregun. Lagos.
Themed “The Future of Learning: Technology, Sustainability, Creativity and Culture for a Changing World, the event also featured training for educators drawn from different parts of the country.
Speaking at the event, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Education on STEM, Adetola Salau, said the country’s education system must move away from an overemphasis on memorisation and focus more on what learners could do with the knowledge acquired.
Salau said learners should be equipped with the ability to think, create, collaborate and communicate, rather than merely memorise information for assessments.
She said, “The biggest thing that I see that we really need to make a shift with is going from ‘what do you know’—because right now we’re still so focused on what do you know, we assess for what do you know—but we need to move to ‘what can you do with what you know?’”
According to her, Nigerian learners should be encouraged to apply their knowledge to develop solutions to challenges in areas such as education, transportation, culture and climate change.
Salau said, “They cannot just continue to memorise information. We need for them to think, we need for them to create, we need for them to collaborate, we need for them to communicate.”
Also speaking, an educationist, Susan Babatunde, said schools should prepare children to function as global citizens while ensuring that they remain connected to their cultural identity.
Babatunde said Nigerian schools should incorporate folklore, history, music and other aspects of the country’s heritage into learning to help pupils understand their roots.
She said learners could also acquire foreign languages and other global competencies without abandoning Nigerian languages and culture.
Babatunde, who is the Chief Business Officer of Blooming Greens School, said the school had partnered with the Confucius Institute to teach pupils Mandarin.
She added that the school, which runs a blended British and Nigerian curriculum, used cultural events, folklore and art exhibitions to expose pupils to both Nigerian and international cultures. How to verify your academic certificates online through FG’s portal Oil wealth, poor students and the NELFUND question AI revolution must not leave disabled learners behind
She said, “We must always showcase these things to them. It’s not enough to just say, ‘This is how we are.’ Practise it, and ensure that some of these things are student-led.”

The Convener of Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition, Wunmi Ogunde, also advocated the development of adaptive minds rather than conformists among Nigerian learners.
Ogunde said the ability to adapt should not be limited to a learner’s field of study, noting that people should be prepared to enter different ecosystems, understand challenges and develop solutions.
She said, “I think we should train people to have adaptive minds, and not conformists.”
Ogunde said Nigerian schools should expose learners to real-life problems and encourage them to develop solutions to challenges relating to sanitation, water, sustainability and other areas.
She also stressed the importance of building confidence and a strong connection with Nigeria among children who may eventually live or study abroad.
According to her, parents and teachers must help children understand that Nigeria and Africa remain their home, regardless of where they receive their education.
“Building adaptive minds, building confidence in people, that allows us to be ready for whatever 2025, 2030, 2035 brings,” Ogunde said.
She also called for efforts to make Nigerian languages and cultural knowledge relevant in a globalised world, saying learners should be able to engage internationally while retaining a strong connection with their heritage.
Earlier in her opening remarks, Ogunde said the 17th edition of TOSSE was significant because it was the first held without its founder, the late Mrs Olayinka Adedokun, whom she described as a passionate advocate of education and professional development.
She said Adedokun believed that those responsible for shaping children should also have opportunities to learn, access new ideas and interact with organisations developing solutions for the education sector.
Ogunde also announced the launch of Edtechboard 360, an education intelligence platform powered by Edumark, which she said was designed to provide verifiable education data, intelligent discovery, matching and insights to support decision-making by parents, learners, schools, educators, employers and investors.

Johnson Idowu
Johnson Idowu is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over four years of experience covering politics, education, metro, and environment. He specializes in producing insightful and well-researched reports that inform and engage readers. Johnson’s work reflects hands-on newsroom experience, editorial insight, and a dedication to accurate, audience-focused journalism.

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