Our Reporter
A non-governmental organisation, Born to Rule Academy, has organised an essay competition for students below 16-20 resident in Lagos.
The competition with the topic College education: A need to reform was sponsored by Hon. Sanni Agunbiade and Medugu.
Over 50 students drawn from the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Anchor University and Olabisi Onabanjo University, among others participated in the competition.
Emmanuel Emeh emerged winner and won N30, 000 and a free public master class.
Oyinlola Salim Olarenwaju, a student of UNILAG, was second and won N20, 000 and public speaking master class sponsorship.
Ernest Enobong Enobong, also of UNILAG, was third and won N10, 000 and a public speaking master class sponsorship.
Sponsorship to the public speaking master class will enable the winners to learn to become eloquent speakers.
The academy is dedicated at grooming teenagers and young adults into becoming eloquent speakers and debaters through free trainings, competitive presentations and providing them with the necessary materials needed and thus enhancing their ability to think critically.
Below is the winning essay:
COLLEGE REFORM: A NEED TO REFORM:
“Formal education teaches how to stand, but to see the rainbow you must come out and walk many steps on your own.”
― Amit Ray
‘College Reform’ is a phrase used to describe the global goal of public education. Over the years, reforms in college education have taken different forms due to the variations in the motifs of the various reformers. During the transition from the twentieth century to the twenty-first century, the reforms in the educational sector have been directed at upgrading the existing system from one focused on inputs to one focused on transforming largely observable outputs such as student accomplishment. In Nigeria and quite frankly the rest of the African continent, there remains a huge gap that can only be filled by a new rave of college reforms in the twenty-first century.
Recent reforms in college education are heavily driven by an increase in the comprehension of the systems which are seen as effective in harvesting the best of students’ performances as well as a conscious improvement in the manner of teaching and learning in schools. The Federal Ministry of Education particularly deserves accolades in that regard for placing a strong emphasis on tutoring students individually and as a group with the use of test friendly sub-skills regardless of long term outcomes, developmental appropriateness and establishment of broader educational goals.
Over the past few decades, the Nigerian government has done all in its power to ensure that college structures properly suit Nigerian students in terms of timing as well as providing them with inputs that guarantee even better performances in higher institutions. However, according to in-depth research, around forty-five percent of Nigerian students are hindered from advancing their educational journey into universities each year upon the conclusion of their mandatory six-year stay in secondary school. The above statistic witnesses to the fact that there has been a gradual decline in the educational sector in general, with the staggering figure of forty-five percent almost doubling its previous value of twenty-five percent at the start of the previous decade. Thus, the vulnerability of systems being practiced in our colleges needs to be addressed.
In contemporary college reforms practiced by neighboring continents, the value of ‘objective’ education is placed at the rooftops as practitioners ensure that all children and adults alike have access to the very best quality of education which is effective and affordable. Modern college instructors ensure that their tutelage mostly answers the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘when’ questions which concern a majority of the students. The new wave of college reforms imparts life coping skills and entrepreneurial knowledge in students to guarantee that they are able to stand against the world on their own – with or without a Bachelor’s degree. The collegiate system in Nigeria needs to emulate these attributes in order to secure an excellent future for every single one of its students and for the nation at large.
The Federal Ministry of Education needs to infuse more life coping skills for students into the school curriculum and also shed more light on entrepreneurship for secondary school students. The glaring reality is that not all students are destined to further their quests for knowledge in universities. Thus, equipping the students with the ken of managing small and medium enterprises would broaden their options upon exiting college.
Without a doubt, the manners in which our college tutors convey knowledge to the younger generation needs to see a major upturn. Over the years, we have seen other nations overtake our motherland – Nigeria, in terms of average alumni students’ achievement indexes – that calls for a major change. The regular Nigerian college instructor is satisfied with having fifty percent of his or her class excelling in school-organized and externally-organized academic-based tests; leaving the other half of the collegial populace in search of private lesson tutors to teach beyond school hours – this should not be the case at all!
College instructors should strive to the best of their abilities to ensure a hundred percent success rate from students in various academic-based tests. While the feasibility of that occurrence remains very close to unattainable, teachers should focus on battening students more as individuals and less as a group – though seen as extremely tedious, it is guaranteed to yield better results. Likewise, the federal government and private college owners should provide more incentives for both teaching and non-teaching staff, as bringing out the best in students in my opinion is one of the weightiest tasks in the twenty-first century.
Finally, Schools should look to explore the talents and special skill sets of their students during extra-curricular activity sessions. In the past decade, the world has experienced a vast upward trend in the creativity sector from fields like athletics, fashion, music and all other forms of entertainment and Nigerian students definitely have to be a part of it and thus, should not be left out. I can guarantee my august reader that about ninety-five percent of colleges in Nigeria have designated school periods set out for extra-curricular development, but of that large number, only a third actually go on to refine the non-academic talents of their students.
Our colleges need to go as far as hiring talent development practitioners from the creative industry to make the best of these special abilities embedded in students. In fact, more time needs to be allocated to extra-curricular activities in order to fully harness the potential of our college students. Collegial institutions all around the planet are moving forward in this light and we cannot afford to be left behind.
On a closing note, I would like to reinstate that the ultimate goal of any educational reform is to provide students with a high-quality education at very affordable costs. In the past, only the rich were entitled to quality education, but the introduction of encyclopedias, public libraries and government-owned schools have gradually subsidized the cost of classical education – a feat which is quite commendable. Albeit, we mustn’t rest on our laurels. A proper college education system guarantees buoyant social returns in citizen health, wealth and wellbeing. Thus, the time to reform our collegiate devices is now! Hello Nigeria, we have come of age.
