Jul 2026· Journal of Education and Learning Reviews· Vol 3, pp. e3302· 0 citations· 13 references
TL;DR
It is concluded that achieving equitable digital transformation in Nigerian education requires a shift from infrastructure-centred implementation toward an equity-driven strategy prioritizing teacher professional development, inclusive policy design, coordinated governance, and sustained public investment.
Abstract
Background and Aims: Nigeria's National Digital Economy Policy for Development (NDEPD) 2020–2030 positions digital literacy as a strategic driver of educational transformation and national development. However, persistent inequalities in infrastructure, digital access, and institutional capacity continue to impede equitable implementation, particularly for marginalized populations. This study examines the extent to which the NDEPD promotes equitable access, educational inclusion, and learning opportunities, while assessing the institutional and financial feasibility of its implementation across Nigeria's decentralized education system.
Methodology: A qualitative policy document review was conducted using Braun and Clarke's six-phase thematic analysis framework. Evidence was synthesized from national policy documents, government statistics, peer-reviewed literature, and reports from international organizations and civil society. Source selection followed a PRISMA-ScR-informed screening process, while Digital Divide Theory and the Capability Approach provided the analytical framework for interpreting patterns of access, use, and educational outcomes.
Results: The findings indicate that although the NDEPD provides a comprehensive policy vision, implementation remains constrained by inadequate digital infrastructure, limited internet connectivity, insufficient ICT teacher preparation, fragmented institutional coordination, and persistent gender, disability, rural–urban, and socioeconomic disparities. These structural barriers prevent equitable participation in digital learning and disproportionately exclude vulnerable learners from the intended benefits of digital education reform. The analysis further demonstrates that teacher capacity development and sustainable governance mechanisms are more critical to educational outcomes than technology provision alone.
Conclusion: The study concludes that achieving equitable digital transformation in Nigerian education requires a shift from infrastructure-centred implementation toward an equity-driven strategy prioritizing teacher professional development, inclusive policy design, coordinated governance, and sustained public investment. Without these reforms, the NDEPD is unlikely to achieve its objective of delivering inclusive and high-quality digital education nationwide.
Nigeria's educational policy landscape since the restoration of civilian governance in 1999 has been characterized by a paradox of ambitious legislative frameworks and persistent structural failure. This paper critically examines the trajectory of education policy and access to education in Nigeria from 1999 to 2024, covering 25 years of democratic governance. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, institutional reports from UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank, and government policy documents, the paper evaluates the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme launched in 1999 and codified through the UBE Act 2004, the National Policy on Education (NPE), subsequent reform initiatives, and the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) commitments. The paper argues that chronic underfunding, endemic corruption, institutional inertia, regional inequality, gender disparity, and the Boko Haram insurgency have systematically undermined educational access, leaving Nigeria as the country with the highest number of out-of-school children globally—estimated at approximately 18.3 to 20 million as of 2022–2024. The study employs a critical policy analysis framework, situating Nigeria's educational crisis within broader political economy debates about governance, federalism, and post-colonial state capacity. Recommendations are offered for evidence-based, equity-focused reform.
E. PhD., Olaniran Ademolekun· International journal of res...· 0 citations
Bangladesh has pursued information and communication technology in education through digital content, multimedia classrooms, teacher-development initiatives, online platforms and, more recently, an explicit policy commitment to blended learning. Yet the system’s digital transformation remains uneven, with substantial differences between policy ambition, institutional capacity and learners’ actual opportunities to benefit. This critical narrative review examines the trajectory of technology integration across primary, secondary and higher education, evaluates the implementation barriers revealed before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 disruption, and develops priorities for a more equitable and educationally consequential transformation. Literature published principally from 2009 to 21 May 2026 was identified through live searches of accessible scholarly indexes, journal and DOI records, institutional repositories and authoritative national and international sources, supplemented by citation searching. The evidence indicates that Bangladesh has expanded the visibility and acceptability of digital education, but much of the empirical literature measures attitudes, intentions and self-reported experiences rather than learning outcomes, institutional performance or long-term equity effects. The strongest recurring constraints are unreliable connectivity and electricity, device and data affordability, multidimensional digital exclusion, weak pedagogical integration, uneven teacher support, limited institutional readiness, fragile maintenance arrangements and misalignment between digital delivery, curriculum and assessment. Pandemic-era online learning accelerated experimentation but also exposed a system dependent on household resources and urban connectivity. Studies of teacher development suggest that school-embedded, iterative and context-sensitive support is more credible than short technical training, while higher-education studies consistently favour blended over fully online provision. Future progress therefore depends less on adding isolated platforms than on building a resilient learning ecosystem that guarantees minimum access, strengthens teacher and leadership capability, supports Bangla and accessible content, governs data and artificial intelligence responsibly, and evaluates whether technology improves learning, inclusion and system responsiveness.
Md. Al Murshed, Ummy Anisa Tabassum· Asian Journal of Education a...· 0 citations
Uganda's transition to competency-based education and training represent one of the most significant pedagogical and regulatory reforms in contemporary African education policy. This article critically examines the legal and policy frameworks underpinning this transition at national, regional, continental, and international levels. Through a qualitative case study design employing document analysis and the IRAC framework for legal analysis, the study draws on parliamentary records, assessment data, labour market surveys, and recent scholarly literature. The findings reveal a fundamental implementation paradox: institutional compliance with regulatory mandates coexists with persistent deficiencies in applied competencies that competency-based education was designed to cultivate. Despite possessing one of the most progressive legal frameworks in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda faces significant challenges including definitional ambiguity in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act 2025, delayed issuance of subsidiary legislation for the Skills Development Levy, inadequate teacher preparedness, resource disparities across institutions, and weak industry engagement mechanisms. The study identifies three interrelated gaps: legislative ambiguity, institutional capacity deficits, and absence of outcome-based accountability. These gaps are compounded by regional and gender disparities, with labour underutilization reaching 58.3% among youth aged 15-19. The article concludes that sustainable reform requires moving beyond regulatory compulsion toward outcome-based accountability, genuine industry partnership, equitable resource distribution, and policy coherence across national, regional, and international frameworks. Evidence from across Sub-Saharan Africa confirms that legal mandate alone is insufficient without congruent resource allocation, pedagogical transformation, and sustained stakeholder engagement. The article offers targeted recommendations for legislative amendment, regulatory development, and equity sensitive implementation.
Mpaata Ibrahim Kaziba, Richard Wemesa, Joshua Mwesigye et al.· Journal of scientific report...· 0 citations
This study examines the role of Open Educational Resources (OER) in democratizing learning in Pakistan by analyzing how national policies and institutional practices shape access, openness, localization, participation and learner support in higher education.
The study uses qualitative documentary and policy analysis. Seventeen national, institutional and international documents were purposively selected and analyzed through a hybrid coding strategy combining UNESCO's 2019 OER action areas with inductive theme development. The analysis focuses on national policy frameworks and two institutional cases: Allama Iqbal Open University and Virtual University of Pakistan (VU).
The findings show that Pakistan's OER-related initiatives have expanded digital access but remain constrained by centralized policymaking, limited localization, infrastructure inequalities, weak pedagogical integration and unclear open licensing. The study identifies a recurring gap between digital availability and genuine openness.
The study contributes to the OER and open and distance learning literature by showing that democratization depends not only on access to digital materials but also on legal openness, contextual relevance, institutional capacity, learner support and stakeholder participation.
Shahid Rafiq, A. Afzal· Asian Association of Open Un...· 0 citations
The National Education Policy 2020 of India (NEP 2020) presents an aspiring programme to reposition the nation’s education system within the global knowledge economy while expanding the access of education, quality and inclusion. This paper critically examines how globalization has moulded the policy’s priorities, underlying assumptions and instruments. Drawing on policy sociology and literature concerning global education governance, human capital theory and neoliberalism, it explores NEP 2020 as both a national reform agenda and a response to transnational policy norms. The discussion focuses on technology-enabled learning, internationalisation, teacher development, flexible learning pathways, public and private partnerships, vocational education and performance-based accountability. The analysis indicates that NEP 2020 combines progressive commitments to foundational learning, curricular flexibility, educational access and international collaboration with market-oriented emphasis on competitiveness, institutional performance, employability and workforce development. This produces a persistent tension between education as an instrument of economic productivity and education as a public and socially transformative entity. The paper further argues that the policy’s ambitions may be constrained by the digital divide, unequal infrastructure, uneven implementation capacity, teacher workload and the continuing marginalisation of rural and socio-economically disadvantaged learners. It concludes that the success of NEP 2020 will depend not simply on adopting global standards, but on translating them through meaningful teacher participation, sustained public investment, culturally responsive implementation and robust safeguards for equity. India can develop a globally engaged education system only if internationalisation and innovation remain subordinate to the objectives of accessibility, inclusion and social justice.
Alokesh Sharma· Advanced International Journ...· 0 citations
This study examines the design, implementation, and outcomes of Uganda’s Gender in Education Sector Policy II (GEPII) within higher education, focusing on women’s access, disciplinary participation, and academic progression. Despite its comprehensive gender mainstreaming framework, the policy’s effectiveness in achieving substantive equity remains limited. Guided by feminist institutionalism and policy implementation theory, the study employs a qualitative case study design, drawing on documentary analysis of policy texts, institutional reports, and national higher education statistics from the National Council for Higher Education. Findings show that GEPII is normatively strong and aligned with global gender equality and human capital development agendas; however, implementation is uneven and largely characterised by procedural compliance rather than structural transformation. While institutions have introduced gender units, revised policies, and implemented affirmative measures, these have produced limited change in entrenched inequalities. Quantitative evidence indicates improved female participation in higher education (45.7% of total enrolment), yet persistent disparities remain in technical and STEM fields (19.4%), academic staffing (32.3%), and doctoral attainment (20.3%), reflecting a pronounced “leaky pipeline” in women’s academic progression. Financial and institutional interventions have also yielded only marginal redistributive effects. The study concludes that Uganda has achieved notable progress in gender inclusion but limited transformation in gender equity, contributing to feminist institutionalist and policy implementation scholarship by demonstrating how informal institutional norms and weak accountability mechanisms mediate policy outcomes and sustain the gap between policy intent and practice in higher education.
Bonny Opeto, D. Onen· East African Journal of Inte...· 0 citations