Wednesday, 17 April 2019

ONE ON ONE WITH MRS. MARY LOTACHUKWU OHAGWASI, FOUNDER GEMSEED CHILDREN ACADEMY



Can we have a brief background about you and your institution?
You already know my name, I don’t call myself a proprietress and I am not a regular school owner. This is a vision that is borne out of the need to bridge gap in the life of a child. Around me I see children being over-burdened and it seems like parents are workers and children are workers. This got me thinking, “How do we allow children of our society to enjoy their childhood and at the same time learn?” That was how “Gemseed” came about. Gemseed is not your regular school, it is a school though, we believe in academic excellence, at the same time we make children care our priority.
That is why I am championing the course I call Educare in education. How do we care for children? This is because a child you don’t care for will not learn. How do we maintain the child’s childhood? I believe when children’s childhood is not maintained, they will grow into dysfunctional adult. I would say the mistakes of doctors are in the graveyard but the mistakes of teachers are in the street. How do we avoid creating problems in the lives of our children through the school? The school system is a noble thing, but school system is also destroying the lives and potentials of the children. Most times our parents are not discerning enough to know the kind of environment they keep their children. By the way, children are not the same, we have different kinds of children or let me say different kinds of learners. There are ways you have to approach their separate needs, if you don’t meet their needs, they will not learn. That is what Gemseed is out to achieve.
In the last ten (10) years by the grace of God, we have been on it. Today, we are marking our 10th anniversary, a wise saying goes thus; if you want to know a man’s passion, it is from his pursuit. Something you have pursued for ten (10) years is not an hobby. It must be a committed passion and it is not by the way. I can tell you in the past ten (10) years I have been in it with headlong and in ensuring that, we raise children who are balanced; emotionally then academically.
Can you take us through some of the challenges you faced in the last ten (10) years?
Really speaking, starting from having the capacity financially, I started very small, I knew I had a big picture with where I am going. I still see myself running maybe a college of education or even a university more of. But sincerely speaking, I started with a crèche, a care centre, a holiday care centre, a daily care centre. When I started, I went round to the schools in my neighborhood especially Gbagada here. There were no such services, they were so regimented, and it is either your children are in that school or they are not there. So, I started that service and gradually now many schools are doing it. We do daily care, you might want to go somewhere and drop your child. I take care of such children. I do monthly care, normal care after school care and holiday care. Children must be cared for physically as they are learning. That is just the idea, so we started. Apart from children from my school, I have children from other schools coming in to be cared for. I do more of nurturing children. Then they are learning at the same time. That is basically what we do. It is not easy, because starting small is not easy, so we started small, gradually we evolved, we are trusting God our next level will be secondary school.
There is a perceived trend that some school owners are into the business with a misplaced objective, which primarily is making money rather than concentrating on leaving a lasting impact. What is your take on this?
Really speaking, going by what I have seen, school is not a business centre, school is a social service, and anybody that is going into school especially in our clime here for the purpose of making money has gone into the wrong business. If you don’t have the mind to serve the children of your generation then forget about running a school. I tell people it is not the business you do like selling popcorn, selling ice cream and in the next three (3) months you are making money. Forget it, it is a long term thing, you may hardly make profit in ten years’ time. You keep investing. When you fail to invest in school it will show. School needs constant momentum, you keep adding and adding value. For me, I look at how we can use modern trend and how do we prepare our children for the work place of 21st century? I’m looking at year 2030-35-40 what will be the work place skills? How do we start to prepare the children for the work place from the foundation? It is said from 0-6yrs, what we don’t put into the children will in no small measure affect who they will eventually become. In work habit, you develop them, personality, you develop them as well as many other things. That is why I as a school owner, believe so much in early years. I go for the best method teaching children in this early stage. It is very keen, once you get it right then, the child can survive.
From a clear observation, you tend to have a strong online presence, are you going to be focusing more on social media and online presence to project your vision and your cause?
Sincerely, I cannot have everybody in my environment here, I am not just to serve few children, I see myself more like an apostle to children, and if I don’t reach care givers, teachers and parents or access them, I cannot reach much. That is why I use this means available within my reach. Through the social media, I reach out to as many as possible and many people are following me. I was in Cotounu last month or thereabout still on the same course, preparing caregivers, parents, and teachers on how to prepare children for the future. If you look at the write-up outside, you would see “raising globally and locally relevant citizens”. If your children don’t go abroad, they should be relevant, if they go abroad, they should not go and wash plate. They should go there and make way, and it is the preparation that determines what happens. If you are not intentional in bringing up your children, I tell you they will not succeed by accident. Nobody succeeds by accident, everything is planned. So, now you have the opportunity to add value, especially, for our children. The competition is getting fiercer and we are in a global world. A child can be here and tomorrow finds a job abroad. What are the things we are doing to equip our children so that they can be a par with their colleagues all over the world? They should have more advantage over other people they might meet wherever they go.
On a final note, what is your advice for your mentees who aspire to be like you or perhaps better?
Sincerely, I crave their indulgence, if you want to work with children, make up your mind to work with children. Usually some people that work with children, go into it because of survival. Working with children is not what you do if you want to survive. You can go and sew cloths or become “designer” or “decorator”. There are many other things you can do. Today, the children may be 20% of the total population but in the nearest future the numbers will change. Anything we make out of them now will determine what they become tomorrow. We see our nation, we are not happy, how will it be in their own time, if we don’t make them problem solvers today? So, I want to encourage my mentees and those who want to be greater than I. “Prepare your own children and the children God has given you access to”. Don’t look at what is going on in Nigeria. Whenever I am doing something for the children, I don’t put a price tag. I don’t look at what it costs me. What I am looking at is “what will it cost them if I don’t do it now?” The thing is not waiting, who they are not today they will not become tomorrow. They are evolving by the day. As building starts with laying a good foundation, anything we fail to do today will affect other things. So every point in a child’s life matters, it counts. Let us take serious every phase of their development and add value to the children and I believe we will be better for it. You don’t know who those children are, they can become world changers tomorrow. So let’s do our best in raising tomorrow’s world leaders and problem solvers.
Thank you for your time.                             

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