Kindly introduce yourself to our esteemed readers and followers?
Yes! I am Akin Benjamin that is my name. And I always introduce myself as a proud and passionate teacher. The truth of the matter is that I am more than a teacher. I teach, I train and I am also an education consultant. Not only have I taught children for over twenty-five (25) years and I have been involved in working with schools but now I am into full consulting. I train teachers on how to do it right.
How long have you been into consulting?
Well, consulting in the real sense of it as part-time will be well over six (6) years. It is more than that, part-time in the real sense of it. You see when you are on a job; you don’t have all the time to do what you really want to do. When I came out fully should be two (2) years ago. I clocked fifty (50) last year. I have set a target of fifty (50) years to leave paid employment for full time consulting and that was last year October 25th last year I clocked fifty (50), now, October 25th this year I will be fifty-one (51). I ended up heading a school in Abuja and then pulled out and I began to do this full time. I have been busy, very very busy.
Fantastic! Coming to the part that concerns most of us with interest in
Education, there is a belief amongst some people that private schools had
dropped in standard compared to public schools while some other people differ.
What is your take on this and why would you support any stand?
Coincidentally, I have taught across all. I have taught in public school and I have taught in private school. The truth of the matter is this; there are the good, the bad and the ugly schools. And they are on either divide. Let me tell you the truth of the matter is that in this country, private schools do a lot more than the public schools. You see government has not been able to fill the gap well. So private schools are doing that and that is why you see when you talk about private schools that are not of substandard maybe low cost schools where they cannot afford all it takes to achieve standard in their place. You see government also know that some of these low cost schools are just the same as we have in public schools. You see I have taught in public school and I still consult for some state governments. I still work with public schools, I am training their head teachers and teachers, so I know what I see everywhere. However, there are some areas that are encouraging. You see everything rise and fall on leadership. If you are a head teacher in public school, you can make the most out of whatever is available. You can be a teacher who feels that, it is government thing oh! That is, you don’t care. That happens, of course that doesn’t mean that government shouldn’t wake up to their responsibility. There are government schools where standards dropped but private individuals came to rescue the school in Nigeria. I know several private schools that their standards are so high. They are maintaining the highest standard in what we do. So I would just say that, depending on the resource that is available, public schools have been starved of funds over the years. We are clamouring that they return public schools to private owners, who own so many of them before now. Look at St. Gregory College in Obalende, Lagos Sate. When it was handled by the government that school declined, now that it has been returned to real owners of the school, just go and check for yourself. Check most of these schools that has been returned to their owners, they are getting back on track including St. Finbarr’s College. CMS is also returning back. Government has made a mess of public education that is just the truth. That doesn’t mean there are no private schools that cut corners. You see there are private schools that stand out tall and are maintaining the ethics of what we expect. And they are doing fine!
Talking about cutting corners, it has come to our knowledge that some
schools actually encourage exam malpractice in their schools all in a bid to
get more students come to their school as a result of that. What is your take
on that?
I was in about two (2) radio stations in the last one month during the WAEC and I was sharing a lot on exam malpractice. How it has become a monster. Truth of the matter is public or private, exam malpractice is everywhere. Yes, there are still schools that will maintain their standard and ethics and I know many. But majority have derailed. Why did they derail? The shared number of pupils or students they are handling don’t even have the capacity. The student-teacher ratio is terrible that is one. Teachers motivation is at zero (0) level. How much are teachers paid? And then the qualities of teachers, because we have found out that the quality of a teacher is the most important factor in the education sector. If the quality of the teacher is good you can produce even under the bamboo tree. I am telling you the truth. If you don’t have quality teaching, quality learning cannot take place. And then you begin to prepare them, you do not want them to fail. So you want your school to maintain some kind of image that will attract more pupils and students so that enrolment will increase. Thereby, improving cash flow steady, and then you have invigilators who come in. who will not be paid by the examining bodies until after three (3) months after. And they keep going to these schools year in year out. You should ask yourself what’s the motivation.
That brings us to the next questions; you have been in this profession
for over two (2) decades now, do think we have teachers with passion and hunger
for impact in our system today? We have cases of teachers been open to
trainings yet they don’t attend, what do you think could be the cause?
Yeah! Let me just respond in this way, this interview is good! I have been able to train teachers in public schools and train teachers in private schools. I know the difference. Public school teachers hardly want to respond to trainings. Especially if they are not paid to come for it, you see the idea that government should pay them allowances for training still resonate. You know that is how it works with government schools; you pay people to go for training. So, if that is not part of the package, some public school teachers will not come for the training. That is one. Then two, except it is sponsored and they are given some allowances. For private schools, a lot of teachers are not self motivated because they have a wrong idea coming into the job. Some of them do not have a sense of mission and vision coming into the profession. When I started out, I carved out a vision for myself. Now, I tell teachers everywhere, get all the training that you need to get. Don’t wait for your schools to train you. I do personal budget every session for training. Once it is long holiday, I will set aside an amount of money for training. You don’t have to wait for the employer. The reason teachers wait for their employer is because they think they are doing it for the employer. I tell teachers, see yourselves as building a career for yourself. So that whichever school you are working with would benefit such that you are building a career for yourself. Your career will speak for you. Those are the kind of people schools look for, they don’t look for job. As you are looking at me, they coach me out of school that is the truth because of value. It can pay off where you are. And if they don’t appreciate it where you are then you will move to where they will appreciate you. just keep building your own career and keep doing your thing. Don’t give the responsibility of building yourself to another person. I tell people, learn, become bigger and better. Then you can earn better. There is no short cut around it. Some people are on chicken salary because they have not built any value they are waiting for someone to do that instead of taking the bull by the horn and been self motivated, improve their own skill, get training by themselves and then as you showcase what you have. It is either they pay you better where you are or somebody hears about your skill and then they invite you to get a better pay. So, this is the way it works. But a lot of people don’t know.
The global pandemic ravaging the world i.e. Covid 19 has brought about adjustment
in the way things are done everywhere. And it has lead to the re-jigging of the
sectors, including education. Let’s look at the effect of Covid 19 to education
relating it to teaching and many educators are now involved in hybrid learning?
What is your take on this?
Yes, we have children in public schools, government must show example. You see public schools are not open yet. This is because government that is demanding that private schools should do this and that. They are not ready with that kind of provision. They must show example. I thank God that I came up with some ideas that was shared with some state governments, that they can do morning and afternoon session because of their population. Some states have adopted that. The truth of the matter is this, teachers will need to function from the position of basking of knowledge. We cannot teach as fear-filled people, we must update knowledge about Covid 19 daily. We must be able teach our children the protocols and also to obey the protocols. Until it becomes a culture, contrary to what the world thinks or most people think, the children are at less risk than the teachers. Let me take that again, the younger people’s immunity level is higher than the adult. If the adult work with the children in school, they are at higher risk of coming down with Covid 19. So the teachers need to take it more upon his/her self to ensure that the protocols are observed. Already as we know, children are returning to schools and the teachers are bombarding them. That is not what to do; you need to reintegrate the children back to school gradually. You cannot rush them like you would normally want to do. The children have lost touch with the school culture. Like my little niece was saying the other day, why all this writing are we not done?
What are the roles of the parent, government and school in ensuring
there is a smooth reintegration and the impact on these children which in turn
will yield the desired result?
Now, the truth of the matter is that all the stakeholders must be on the alert to their duties concerning this. The government has provided checklist that they themselves have not been able to abide with. And now let me tell you the implication of that. There will be a dichotomy, a great gap between the education of the haves and the have not. The government must comply quickly to its own demands and regulations so that the public schools can comeback on time to function. Children can be taught; otherwise we are going to have issues. Now, not only that they will have to do monitoring, the inspectors and quality assurance department will need to wake up and visit schools, and not another way to get toll fee. There personnel should not go to schools to harass schools to get money. That is another problem, so we need to monitor schools that they are complying. That is one, on the part of school owners. You need to provide everything that is needed to ensure safety, I was speaking on another programme the other day and I said security, safeguarding and safety measures must be taken into cognizance. Everything that has to do with protocol that will safeguard and secure our children’s health and life should be put in place in schools. And then ensure that learning is going on in a standard way. You don’t just do wishy-washy thing in the name of hybrid learning. Regarding parents, the parents would have to corporate with schools. Providing all the things the children would have to bring to schools; is it face mask? Is it face-shield? Is it hand sanitizer? You comply with the regulations of the school. This is not the time to fight school and it is certainly not the time to say you are withholding school fees. Pay your school fees. Schools will not run on empty budget. They are spending money, when it comes to virtual learning, we need the parent’s help.
Can I ask you this question? As it stands some parents had lost their
jobs and are trying to meet up with the school fees payment, don’t you think
there should be a middle ground between the parents and school owners when it
comes to payment of school fees?
Now, what I advice school owners is this. Ordinarily, when everything was fine, there were a lot of challenges in paying school fees. So, then the thing is everybody is gone through what we have been through. Let the parent commit to plan of payment. You do a schedule, and then you pay in installment. And you hold them responsible to it. You track it, you have a schedule. You can break the payment into part payment and they will do it. So that by the time they pay a little now, they pay another may be by mid-term when they coming in from the mid-term break they pay everything. I will not advice any school to wait till the final exams to collect their fee. Parents won’t pay. But then, you need to show empathy and allow them some kind of room for part payment plan. Where there is schedule you can track. Parents should know we are not selling tangibles, we are not selling orange, we are not selling mango. When I was doing home lesson they will pay me upfront I don’t want to be fighting anybody. I say to them if you are not satisfied with what I have done for you. I can refund you. I don’t want to chase you for your money.
What do you have to say to the children; it is believed by some that
education standard had gone way down while others believe the advent of
technology has help further education, where do you stand and your advice?
My advice is this, you know teachers will do their part, parents will do their part. The learner must do his or her own part. That you have gadget in your hands now does not mean you should get lost into the world wide web doing the wrong things. You are to use technology for the right purpose which is for learning. So that we can be part of the innovate people, create apps and then take advantage of this technology for the best and not for the wrong reasons. There are positives online and there are negatives. The students need to be responsible digital citizens not responsible monster.
How can one reach you sir for your service?
You can reach me via any of these handles;
Facebook: Akin Benjamin | Twitter: @Akinteacher | Website: https://www.akinbenjamin.com.ng
Mobile: 08023521541 & 08165476552
