- By Adetola Salau PhD
Sir: There’s a quiet crisis happening across Africa, one that doesn’t always make headlines, yet directly shapes the destiny of our continent. That crisis is the state of education.
For decades, we’ve relied on systems inherited from colonial frameworks, structures designed for compliance, not innovation. While the rest of the world is rapidly evolving, embracing artificial intelligence, digital learning, and real-world skills training, many African students are still memorizing content for exams that have no connection to their future lives.
As an educator, STEM advocate, and education policy strategist, I believe the time for transformation is now and disruption must be part of that journey.
Disruption, to many, sounds uncomfortable. It feels like chaos, instability, or loss of control. But to me, disruption is an invitation, a call to courageously rethink what education could look like if we centred it on relevance, equity, and opportunity. I’ve seen first-hand the power of what’s possible when we shift from rhetoric to results.
As the Special Adviser on Education to the Kwara State government and the former Senior Special Assistant on Education in Lagos State, I had the privilege of collaborating on several pioneering reforms. From integrating STEM clubs in public schools and drone soccer competitions to developing new frameworks for digital learning, we moved beyond “access” to focus on quality and creativity. Our work earned Kwara a global spotlight at the 2025 Africa Education Leaders Roundtable in Cambridge. But more importantly, it planted seeds of possibility for what African-led reform can look like when driven by vision and action.
Disruption also means embracing public-private collaboration. No single ministry, donor, or NGO can solve education alone. We need an ecosystem of thinkers, builders, teachers, and investors who can co-create solutions. It’s why I founded Carisma4U Educational Foundation (now ELIA (Education Leadership Innovation Advancement) Africa, to bridge that gap between policy and classroom, between potential and real impact. Over the years, we’ve reached thousands of learners across Lagos and Kwara with hands-on STEM experiences, teacher training programs, and student innovation challenges.
AI isn’t the enemy, it’s a tool. When integrated wisely, it can personalize learning, reduce our teachers load, and offer students access to skills that will keep them globally competitive. The danger isn’t the technology; it’s ignoring it and seeing our children fall behind.
Most significantly, disruption requires rethinking what success looks like. For too long, African education has been reduced to test scores and certificates. Yet the future needs thinkers, innovators, problem-solvers, young people who would build solutions for their communities.
Education should not be about memorizing the past. It should be about designing the future.
We have the talent. We have the ideas. What we need is bold leadership, people willing to disrupt the status quo, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Africa’s next chapter depends on how we educate our children today. Let’s not settle for reform that tweaks around the edges. Let’s dare to reimagine, rebuild, and fully transform our education systems, one bold step at a time.
•Adetola Salau PhD,
Lagos.