Kindly introduce yourself to our esteemed readers and
followers?
Yes! I am Akin Benjamin
that is my name. 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 busy.
Fantastic! Coming to the part that concerns most of us with
interest in Education, there have been convergent and divergent beliefs among so
many people that Private Schools have dropped in standard compared to Unity
schools. What is your take on this and why would you support any stand?
Coincidentally, I have
taught in both 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 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 resonates. 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. Little wonder my little niece was asking the
other day, why all these writing, are we not done yet?
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 a checklist to checkmate what even
they themselves have not been able to abide by. 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 parents' 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 advise
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 installments, and you hold them
responsible to it. You track it, you have a schedule. You can break the payment
into part-payments so that by the time they pay a little now, they pay another,
may be by mid-term when they are coming in from the mid-term break they pay
everything. I will not advise any school to wait till the final exams to
collect their fees. 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 a schedule
you can track. Parents should know we are not selling tangibles, we are not
selling oranges or mangoes. 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 (WWW) 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 inventive 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 monsters
How can one reach you sir for your services?
You can reach me via
any of these handles;
Facebook: Akin Benjamin
| Twitter: @Akinteacher | Website: https://www.akinbenjamin.com.ng
Mobile: 08023521541
& 08165476552
