ADAPTING ICT SKILLS IN THE EDUCATION OF STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN THE PANDEMIC ERA

Abstract

This study focuses on the adaptation of ICT skills in the education of students with visual impairment during the pandemic era. The spread of COVID-19 was sudden worldwide and the disease affected over nine million persons and resulted in the death of over 450,000 people. The pandemic almost destroyed the world order as all developmental activities which boost an individual country’s economy were all at a standstill not excluding education. Governments all over the world developed some interventions in the education sector to enable students to learn from home. The use of ICT is slowly imbibed by students with visual impairment in Nigeria, this is important because ICT helps students with visual impairment learn from home through its platform such as the Radio, Television, Digital Audio Books and so on. The online and on-air classes are a good and welcome development, however, most of these might not be possible for students with visual impairment without the assistance of their parents or guardian. From the literature, it was discovered that some of the programmes that were aired during the pandemic to improve the education of students in Nigeria neglected the peculiarity of students with visual impairment thereby making it imperative for the government and stakeholders in the education sector to adapt ICT as the most important platform in remote learning for students with visual impairment.