By Esther Onyegbula

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector have called for urgent reforms to replace examination-driven learning with practical, skills-based education that prepares students to solve real-life problems and meet workplace demands.

They made the call at the Education That Works Africa Conference 2026 in Lagos, where educators, policymakers, innovators and other stakeholders advocated stronger links between classroom learning, industry needs and community development.

Speaking at the conference, the Program Lead of Auctus Social Transformation Initiative, Dr. Pat Agboro, said Nigeria’s education system was failing to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical competence, leaving many graduates inadequately prepared for employment.

Dr. Agboro, who spoke on behalf of the Executive Director, Auctus Social Transformation Initiative, Professor Akin Akinpelu, said: “There is a gap between what the students learn or are said to have learned and real-life situations. So, there is a gap between the gown and the town.”

Agboro, who explained that the conference was conceived to address challenges confronting education in Nigeria and across Africa, said employers often had to retrain graduates to meet workplace expectations despite their years of formal education.

She advocated a functional education system that equips learners with practical skills relevant to their environment rather than one that encourages memorisation and the reproduction of information during examinations.

“The fact is that our education today is not functional. And what do I mean by functionality? Functionality is the ability to solve problems. Education that relates to the environment, that is helpful, is socially driven and environmentally driven,” she said.

She noted that traditional African education placed greater emphasis on skills relevant to people’s immediate environments, arguing that modern education should similarly prepare students to address local challenges.

Agboro said the conference was designed to move beyond discussions to actionable recommendations capable of influencing educational policies and reforms.

“We’ve had too many talks about education. We have had too many, so we all know what to do. But the thing is that we have not taken this seriously to say, no, this is enough talking about problems. What are the solutions?” she asked.

She said a communiqué outlining practical recommendations would be issued at the end of the two-day event, adding that collaboration among government, educators, private organisations and other stakeholders was essential to achieving meaningful change.

The guest speaker and Chief Executive Officer of Leading Learning Limited, Folashade Adefisayo, also challenged the conventional understanding of academic excellence, saying examination success should reflect students’ ability to think critically, understand concepts and solve problems.

Addressing teachers, she said: “When our students get an A1, it should not simply mean that they are good at passing examinations. It should mean they are brilliant students. They can think critically, solve problems and understand the content.”

She added: “Passing an examination does not necessarily mean you are brilliant.”

Adefisayo called for stronger links between classroom instruction and local problems, while identifying inadequate infrastructure, teacher attrition and insufficient investment as major obstacles to educational improvement.

She warned that introducing technology into teaching without providing electricity and devices could frustrate learners and undermine the adoption of new skills.

“When you teach someone with tech and they get to school only to discover that there is no power and no device, you have frustrated that person. They may not do it again,” she said.

Adefisayo argued that education required sustained investment, insisting that governments and communities must advocate better funding and improved learning conditions.

“Education can never be cheap. It is an expensive investment. So, how do we get our governments to understand that we cannot do education cheaply? People have to make noise about it. It is a grassroots issue,” she said.

She also urged teachers to participate actively in curriculum reform, advocating collaboration in developing subjects such as English and literature to make learning more relevant and effective.

The highlight of the event was the unveiling of the 7star program, designed to help teachers and students develop 21st-century competencies and social transformation skills through hybrid training. The program is available on the Google Play Store.

At a panel session on reforms needed in the education system, the Chief Executive Officer of Teammasters Limited, Rotimi Eyitayo, said schools must be redesigned to prepare students for workplace realities, stressing that learning should extend beyond passing examinations.

“The school itself is more or less the feeding system to the workplace. We know how the workplace works, and the dynamics behind the school system are where we are now,” he said.

Eyitayo argued that schools should establish clear learning expectations and help students develop the qualities required for success rather than focus primarily on examination scores.

“There is the being of an A student, and there is having an A grade. Those are two different things.

“Nobody teaches students what it means to be an A student, but we know what it means to have an A score. So, you find that many people may have the score without necessarily having the qualities that should come with it,” he said.

He also called for proper assessment of training programmes before and after implementation, noting that coaching, supervision and follow-up might be necessary to ensure that acquired skills were applied and sustained.

Another panellist, Ephraim Abutu-Ali, advocated integrating education with employment opportunities, urging schools and training providers to align their programmes with labour market needs.

“I would like to approach it from the perspective of moving from an ‘education first, employment later’ approach to an education-and-employment opportunity model,” he said.

Abutu-Ali said students should be exposed to different work environments before graduation to help them understand career opportunities and develop relevant competencies.

“Training providers also need to ask what skills are actually needed in the market, rather than simply creating training programmes for learners,” he added.

Drawing on his experience working with fashion entrepreneurs and African fashion brands, he said training should address specific business challenges and equip participants with skills that improve their prospects.

He cited a client who won a $30,000 World Trade Organisation (WTO) grant after receiving training, arguing that targeted interventions could produce measurable results.

Abutu-Ali urged stakeholders to measure the success of training by employment outcomes and the sustained application of acquired skills rather than the number of participants enrolled.

“Rather, we should ask: How many people got jobs after the training? How many people were impacted? Of those who got jobs, what are they doing six or 12 months later? Are they still creating value?” he said.

The Founder of The Smartan House, Johnson Abbaly, called for a fundamental rethink of Nigeria’s education system, urging stakeholders to integrate practical workplace experience into learning and embrace technology to prepare young people for the future.

He criticised the tendency to prioritise formal academic qualifications over practical knowledge, warning that the education system was missing opportunities to benefit from the experience of industry professionals.

“The Chinese would say that the death of an old man is like the burning down of a library. We’re just letting them die. With knowledge, institutional memory, we cannot reproduce.

“And we have an education system that’s not tapping into that. Why? Because they don’t have a PhD. Because they don’t have a master’s degree,” he said.

Abbaly also called for a long-term national conversation on the skills and competencies Nigerian children would need to compete globally, identifying artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity to improve research, learning and productivity.

Using academic research as an example, he said AI tools, including Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, could significantly reduce the time required to complete tasks that previously involved extensive searches through physical libraries.

He urged educators to stop restricting learners to conventional teaching methods and instead encourage experimentation, creativity and independent thinking.

“They are digital natives, we are the ones standing in the way. So, we need to come to that point,” he said.

The conference highlighted the need for education reforms that connect classroom learning to workplace demands, equip students with practical skills and encourage critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving.

Participants stressed that meaningful change would require sustained investment, stronger partnerships and measurable outcomes to ensure that education produces not just certificate holders but competent graduates capable of creating value and addressing society’s challenges.