By Mike Abiola – Excellence In Education (EIE) started as a provider of after school and weekend classes for school children to help maxi¬mise their potential in maths and sciences.
Professor Chris Imafidon who is the pioneer of Excellence in Education programme has found new opportunities to expand the scope of teaching globally during the coronavirus lockdown.
The international scholar has produced many outstanding young students who have broken academic records in Britain and Europe to become the youngest persons ever to pass the University of Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam and also the youngest ever to enter high school, and Oxford University.
Prof. Imafidon believes the lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic should not be a hindrance but an opportunity to lift up.
He said, “there is always a silver lining in every dark cloud.”
“Our activities now include mentoring, training, empowering, guiding, webinars, e-meetings and teaching of educators, employees, entrepreneurs and students of all levels in many areas.
“The number of our direct and in¬direct staff has more than doubled be¬cause of increasing online activities, totalling 909 including partner institutions.”
The coronavirus lockdown provided a unique opportunity to re-train all stakeholders on the new technologies required for working from home (WFH).
“All activities have migrated online thanks to Microsoft Teams, YouTube, Facebook, Zoom, Instagram, Periscope, Twitter, Linkedln and WhatsApp.
“The Pandemic has opened up the opportunity for international clients rather than being limited to local clients alone. The virtualisation of our services led to immediate global access. ALL our resources are now in electronic format.
“There no more need for physical textbooks, CDs, or DVDs, as all resources are now loaded via our websites or our international partners’ websites.”
As a result of coronavirus and subsequent shutdown of schools, Excellence In Education is putting new strategies in place.
“We will run additional summer-school programmes so that learners can catch up on lost time spent during the 3-month lockdown.
“We began massive re-training and speaking to foreign language speakers including French, German, Russian and Greek. We have new proof that language learning and teaching can be accelerated. International collaboration can be easily enhanced via language learning.
“Our services and products will be re-targeted and re-packaged as soon as their safety is guaranteed to staff and all stakeholders. We will now run dual online and offline programmes. We will explore all innovative methods.
“We have already produced draft leaflets, booklets and other campaign literature to inform and educate prospective customers as well as send emails to our mailing lists. We will use WordPress to generate a new website to publicise new regulations.
Kindly follow us on twitter:@AfricanVoice2
