Winning against the UK System: Reasons Why African Kids Drop Behind

With more people leaving the shores of Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and other African countries for greener pastures, the terrain is changing for immigrant children who have to pick up their lives in a new country and under a different system of education.  However, this transition has not been the smoothest as many would say. “My son who was in JS2 in Nigeria had to start from Grade 6 in Ontario, that’s the same thing as Primary 6 back in Lagos!” The burning questions on the minds of worried parents therefore are: “how will a class downgrade affect my child’s mental health and confidence”, “Will my child be able to compete with their peers back in the home country”? “does this mean extra cost?”.

Knowing that this isn’t the most consistent and affordable arrangement for many parents – who simply don’t want their child regressing one or two years backwards–  the final response to the ‘new reality’ is a disgruntled acceptance. After all, there’s not much they can really do about such a ‘catch 22’ situation.

Is the Nigerian system of education really that bad?

Nigeria is often perceived to have a poor system of education. While this can be argued from the point of view of several stakeholders, it is generally thought and scientifically ranked to be one of the worst in the world for many reasons. Education allocation as a percentage of total budgets ranged from 3.3% in 1999 to 9.88% in 1986. A close look at the distribution shows that the pattern of government budgetary allocation to education as a percentage of the total budget was not consistent.

This deepening ‘crisis’ is also evident in general board examinations such as the West African Council Examinations For the past few years, there has been a steady decline in the performance of candidates in WAEC examinations. In the 2014 batch, out of the 1,692,435 candidates who sat for the examination, only 529,425, representing 31.28 per cent could obtain credits in five subjects and above, including English and Mathematics, which is disturbing. Majority of the candidates, numbering 1,163,010 or 68.72 percent failed!

Further criticisms of the Nigerian system of education look at its heavy reliance on a theoretical approach rather than a practical, person-centered and civic methodologies.

A complete review of the curriculum is imperative to upscale standards and the Nigerian child must begin the process of internalizing the Nigerian dream, with a view to living it, through the philosophical framework of an education system that includes vigorous re-introduction of history and civic education. Finland, for example, is regarded as one of the world’s most literate societies where teachers are prepared and prepare their students for the theory of education and practice of every lesson delivery.

What’s my child’s future like?

It’s really difficult to say how deep a class downgrade may help or cause negative impacts on your child’s dreams, confidence and well-being. We’ve seen cases where the downgrade turned out to be helpful, however, no one knows this until about three to four years when they must have internalized the new culture and learning styles. It is from these rubbles that many Black African kids rise ‘like a phoenix’, unleashing their true potentials and making the best out of the situation. However, most of the time, we’ve observed and noted through interviews with parents who require our tutoring service include the ways such downgrades have caused their child to lose faith in learning or perform poorly at school examinations. Other socio-environmental factors contributing to this are lack of sufficient parent-child time due to work commitments on the part of the former, lack of understanding of the country’s curriculum and language/accent barriers amongst others.

Loomi Education made it its mission to help hundreds of Nigerian parents living in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia stand a better chance through tutoring. Because our teachers are experts and indigenous,  children feel more ‘at home’ with learning and often develop a sense of belonging even while home learning in their virtual classrooms. What we’ve seen is even though we give a discounted 1-day trial on all our programs, parents are more than satisfied, thereby turning into full-paying clients, going for one of our tutoring packages. For persons who are usually skeptical at first, we’ve made live class examples available on our website for them to watch and see for themselves that we’re dedicated to working with the curriculums of the countries they live in and use the exact resources approved for the subjects their kids learn at school.

Parents on our Superstar plans (premium) will also have access to a dashboard for vacation breaks and are allowed to temporarily pause their subscriptions and reschedule/cancel classes for free at no extra cost. Loomi ensures there are no hidden charges for its programs.

Today, Loomi offers live, interactive classes designed for various class levels, ages, and interests. These include subjects in Mathematics, ELA, Science, Civic/Social Studies across Grades/Years 1-12. All classes are completed online and are taught with signature live teaching techniques that are one-of-a-kind, tested, safe, and guided by educators with amazing track records. We’ve also curated dedicated virtual homeschooling packages which many of our non-permanent residents clients have found super helpful. Home learning  is an age-long and legal form of education in several parts of the world including The United States and Canada. Some provinces like Ontario have less rigid guidelines and expectations for home learning, where others basically leave you to your own devices. For instance, once you make up your mind for your child to begin home learning, you simply have to write a letter to the school board explaining your intention and you’re good to go!

“Moving abroad has come with its challenges for me as a working mum and my two beautiful daughters. Loomi has stepped in and done amazingly for the kid’s learning,” shares Mrs Oyindamola A., one of Loomi’s happy parents.

“My kids have been able to build friendships with other Nigerian kids as themselves within a really short time. They look forward to being in their live classes, learning new things about their history, identity, and how important they are to the world,” adds Mrs Ezinne J.

On top of that, 10% of Loomi’s profit goes to support out-of-school children through several NGOs that have clear integrity in giving back to disadvantaged kids in Africa. These organizations supply textbooks, uniforms, and tuition fees to reduce the millions of economically disadvantaged school children all over the world.

Those who want to check out Loomi can get a 1-day discounted trial class, watch class examples, and even speak to a learning advisor before they make the decision to sign up. During this time, learners can access live classes across a wide range of topics and in close fashion to what’s obtainable at school.