Education is not about structure alone but the
products that come out of the school. What can you
Say about the discipline, moral and value imbibed into
the students?
Let start from
education itself, it is a complex system. When you talk about the system it
comprises of different parts. In education for example, we have many components
but the quality of education is a function of factors put together. The
structure is one of the requirements, environment, teachers, materials and
curriculum, all play together to determine the quality of education in any
society. The structure has to do with the building. Of course, the building
must be good enough, well ventilated, illumination must be okay. That is why
the Ministry of Education insists on using cream colour for the inner walls of
the classrooms. Researches have shown that cream colour aids the illumination
of classrooms. For instance, if this room were painted blue, the illumination
wouldn’t have been as bright as this and any classroom that is poorly
illuminated will negatively affect classroom activities. Now let’s talk about
the quality of teachers. It always saddens my heart when I realize that we
don’t have teachers again. Honestly, in those days when I was in primary
school, the quality of teaching in public schools was so high that nobody ever
thought of private school. The few private schools then were those that were owned
by missionaries, I mean churches that wanted to teach people their doctrine and
would not like any pollution from outside. So,individual ownership of school
was not common.
What's responsible for lack of quality teachers?
The society, I mean
all the stakeholders in the education sector are guilty. We have the
government, teachers, pupils and the investors. I am telling you today as I do
tell people that we don’t have a future generation.
That is a strong statement, sir?
Yes it is, the
reason I said that is that I foresee a situation where this generation will
crumble. This is because it is built on nothing, this present generation is
built on nothing and when you build structures on nothing, it is just a matter
of time before the structure will crumble.
Sir, you said the present generation is built on
nothing but you have schools, does that mean you don’t believe in this
generation?
I believe in it but
my worry is that lots of atrocities are common to this present generation.
Today we talk of examination malpractices, student indiscipline, forgery,
certificate racketeering, corruption and the likes. All these are in the
highest order.
My being in the
school business is because I believe education is a composite responsibility of
both the public and the private, so, I think there is a need for me to
contribute my own quota to the lives of people. The students under my care know
me for my strong philosophy and principle. WAEC exams started today, all
students know that they are on their own. We have done everything to prepare
them before now. As a trained teacher, I know what to do to prepare students
for examinations. The teacher is the first significant factor,all my teachers
had at least a first degree in their various disciplines. You can have a look
at the board right behind me, you will see the list of teachers, they are
professionals.
Apart from that, one
may know the subject but may find it difficult to impart the knowledge on students
because he is not a trained teacher. This is where teaching qualification comes
in. That is very important because it is not everybody that can tolerate the
idiosyncracies in children. At teenage, they start to exhibit different types
of behavior, if you are not trained in child psychology you may not know how to
curtail their excesses. That is why we talk of academic and professional
qualifications. Those that are professionally trained have been exposed to the
characteristics of this age group, so when they start exhibiting this attitude,
the teacher knows the next therapy to adopt in order to resolve the problem. If
you are not able to control their excesses in the classroom you wouldn’t be
able to teach them. The teacher is number one determining factor when it comes
to quality in education. Like I said, if you are not well grounded I will not
employ you. Even the corps members that were sent here for youth service I do
test them despite the instruction written in their letters that they should not
be interviewed. But because I don’t want anybody that will ruin my system, I
test them. A lady corps member came in this morning for Mathematics and I told
her my stand that I would only absorb her if she passed my test. I discovered lots
of university graduates don’t know what they are doing, that is why the problem
is a serious one.
The system is
cyclical, although universities train but after training they release their
products to the society but in a situation whereby society finds it difficult
to absorb the products because they were not well prepared, then there is a
problem. That is why the unemployment rate is so high but foreigners are coming
here to get employment. For instance, the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amachi
some time ago said he wanted to employ principals from India to head all the
schools in Rivers State. The question is, ‘’Are principals no longer being
trained in Nigerian schools?’’ Does that mean university graduates in Nigeria
are not good enough to head those schools? That shows there is a problem
somewhere.
Anybody that comes
here must be tested, and if found okay, I give him/her the job and rest my mind
that when he/she gets to the classroom he/she will not mess up.
Two, the environment
as you can see is very conducive, it is not noisy, the classrooms are well ventilated
and equipped with all the basic facilities that enable students to learn. But
do you know where I have a problem?
Where?
The parents. Some
parents have asked funny question when they come to register their children for
exams, like: ‘’Please, I want to register my child for WAEC exam, will he
pass?’’ That question sounds funny and
I always tell them
to ask the child. I’m not the one that will write the exam for him/her, the
child should answer the question. Parents are too desperate they want success
at all cost.
How do you manage that?
Yes I stand by my
principles and I’ve been given a name “Policy man”, but I don’t care. If you
stand by your principles people will know you for that and those who value
honestly will appreciate you.
Does that have any effect on you?
It has, last year my
SS2 class was (45) forty-five in number but when they got to SS3 at the point
of registration for WAEC, they reduced to (26) twenty-six. The reason for that
is that they wanted schools where they would be allowed to cheat. The day we
got approval from WAEC and NECO to conduct and write exams in this school I was
happy and went ahead to announce to my students that the approval has been
given by the Ministry of Education for WAEC and NECO exams, they all shouted
‘’Oh no!’’ I was very shocked to hear that kind of expression because I
expected them to be happy. When I asked them the reason for their reaction, they
replied, ‘’We know you as a “Policy man” you will not allow us to cheat during
the exam’’. But I still like it because there are some of them who are ready to
learn.
Have you ever witnessed a situation where students
appreciate you for sticking to your policy of “do it yourself”?
Yes, I have many of
them. For example, last year immediately after their WAEC examination those that
wrote UTME were on awaiting results, when results were released seven of them
got admission on merit. Two of them at the University of Lagos, one is studying
medicine while the other is studying Actuarial Science. One is in FUTO, Owerri,
studying Computer Science, others are in LASU, UNIBEN and University of Ilorin,
all on merit. I was very happy when their parents came back to thank me. Two
years ago there was a controversy about one of my students here who went to the
University of Ilorin Post UTME, because it was computer based she wrote hers
here in Lagos. When the authority saw her result it was highly incredible. They
said they did not believe the result so the University authority wrote a letter
to me to forward the girl’s result from JS1 to SS3. This was a girl who has
been very consistent in performance from her JS one through SS three. When the
university saw all the evidences, they had to give her admission. She is
studying law now at the university. My own belief is that if one can write WAEC
exam on his own and pass it, there will be no exam in the world that will scare
you.
Your advise for the government, parents and the
students?
Let start with the
government, they have good policies but the problem is implementation. There is
what I called policy somersault. As we are trying to study and execute one
policy they change it and bring another, at a point we would become confused.
So there is a need for consistency in policy. Now they are talking about
scraping NECO and JAMB, this has brought confusion.
To the parents, it
is important to recognize the potentials in our children. They can do well,
they have all what it takes to excel in life. But parents are too anxious and
desperate. At SS1 they want their children to write WAEC examination and GCE,
those kind of students is not matured for such exams. Parents should take it
easy, they should have that understanding. They should allow their students to
develop at their own space, if they do, I’m sure they will succeed.
For the students,
they need to know that they were being trained for a purpose, school is not a
place where we talk about miracles, they have to go through a process which
will make them solid in the future.
Thank you!!
