Creativity and innovation sets humans apart from other mammals. Our feats across the fields of Science, Technology, Education, Engineering and the Arts were once wild imaginations brought to life by our abilities to think creatively, innovate and execute ideas towards solving complex problems.

As people everywhere creatively work to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in an increasingly interconnected world, decision makers in business, politics, science, technology, economy, education and every area are seeking out more creative thinkers and innovators to evolve effective solutions to the new and complex problems that the Coronavirus has brought to fore; as well as the certain aftershocks that the pandemic will have across all sectors.

As relevant as these qualities are, creativity and innovation have no single explanation. The United Nations reckons that “creativity as a concept is open to interpretation from artistic expression to problem-solving in the context of economic, social and sustainable development”.

Creativity and innovation, at both the individual and group levels, have become the true wealth of nations in the 21st century. So, if creative thinking and innovation are the very abilities which separates us from lower animals, then the need to stimulate, encourage and sustain these abilities from childhood is as important as life itself.

Consequently, the United Nations designated 21^st April as World Creativity and Innovation Day to raise an awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.   

Research and several Educators around the world continue to incorporate innovative ways to express creativity in teaching, thinking and learning, particularly at foundational/early childhood. Creative teaching and learning have been found to make learning more fun for students, diminish students’ dislike for science, mathematics and social science subjects and allow for faster learning and increased teacher/student achievements.

HOW BAF PROMOTES CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN UNDER-RESOURCED SCHOOLS

Creativity and innovation in implementing the curriculum is one of the four pillars of 21st century education that Bunmi Adedayo Foundation works to inculcate in classroom teachers and pupils across public primary schools in Nigeria. From the start, BAF recognized the need to support teachers from under-resourced schools to deliver quality instruction and improve learning outcomes of the mostly needy pupils attending these schools. While creativity and innovation is an important requirement for success in today’s world and necessary for everyone, we are focused more on the teachers because they are the gateway to the educational improvements that we all seek.

For example, the Nigerian curriculum has been argued by many experts to be archaic and no longer meets the 21^st century need of the learner. While this may be true, we train teachers on how they can effectively interpret this curriculum to be relevant to and be comprehended by today’s Learner (The Pupil). While the process of modifying the curriculum is something that cannot be immediately influenced, we can modify its delivery so that the Learner can be better prepared for the future ahead.

Another example is the BAF School Leadership and Mentoring Programme (SLMP) where we equip the School Management team (Head Teachers, Assistant Head Teachers, PF and SMBC) with problem-solving and stakeholder management skills to proffer solutions to the challenges they face at their schools without necessarily waiting for the Government. This 20-weeks mentoring programme is currently in its pilot phase and benefitting 40 public schools. Experienced educators are assigned as Mentors to closely guide the beneficiaries through the achievement of set goals for the programme.

Delivering education creatively can be challenging, costly and time consuming. However, it is always worth the investment both for the students and the teachers. Bunmi Adedayo Foundation has seen the effect of this across many beneficiaries and plan to replicate this across other schools in Nigeria.

It’s World Creativity and Innovation week and we welcome your ideas about how to bring creativity into teaching and learning, especially during the realities of the COVID-19 school restrictions. How can students from public or low income private schools learn without access to the internet? How can parents be equipped with the right knowledge to home-school their children during this compulsory stay at home phase of our lives?

With over 25.6 million primary school pupils and an obvious “creativity gap” across most public and low-income private primary schools, it is necessary to continue the crusade for more creativity to be expressed in teaching and learning. We celebrate Teachers that go the whole nine yards in engaging in and encouraging creativity and innovation. Together, we can achieve more!