Thursday, 13 June 2013

One on One with Dr. Jacob Adeyanju, Proprietor, Turning Point Group of Schools


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!!

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