Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin has promised to organise an education summit, if elected. The move, Folarin said, is geared towards restoring the state’s lost glory in education.
In a media chat in Ibadan, Folarin described the state of education in Oyo as poor, vowing to create impact assessment unit for self examination.
According to him, teachers especially at the basic level, deserve better treatment. Folarin, therefore, promised that teachers’ salaries and emolument would be paid regularly, adding that grants will not be delayed.
“Teachers deserve better treatment. They are the makers of great people of the world and it is not acceptable to treat them in a negative way.
“Because of the merger in some schools in the state, the population in our classrooms rose to between 100 and 150, which is not acceptable. Teachers have lost control at the moment in the state and to get it right again, we have to return it to 25 pupils in a class. We also need to look at the pension scheme of the teachers as a motivating factor.
“It is very easy for me to say we are going to do the opposite of what the present administration is doing because we are going to declare state of emergency in the sector. We are going to set up a summit where we will invite all stakeholders in education sector to discuss the way out.
“We are going to establish impact assessment unit to checkmate and assess our performances on every sectors.
“This policy will serve as a means of self examination on our performances so as to know if we have positive impact on the people or not,” Folarin said.
A school administrator, Mrs Grace Edun, has challenged the government to allocate more funds to the education sector for meaningful development to take place.
Mrs Edun of Grace High School Gbagada, Lagos, said this in a meeting with some of her school’s stakeholders. The current budgetary allocation to education, she said, is below the standard of other countries and gives little consideration to the poor.
She said: “We need to improve funding for education (in order) to give poor parents and students opportunity to enjoy the dividends of democracy. If we want meaningful development we must increase funding for education. I remember when we took our students to Singapore, we discovered that they spend about 20 per cent of their budget on education, yet Nigeria spends only 8 per cent on education.”
Mrs Edun believed that the change will lift the nation’s educational system to world standard and earn international respect.
She urged candidates jostling for political positions in the forthcoming elections to give preference to education sector and focus on the need to eradicate corruption, mismanagement and waste in the nation in their campaigns rather than personality attacks.
“It is important to return to the good old days when our educational system was well-respected worldwide.
“Let the politicians address issues instead of abusing one another (because) we are looking for someone to help us give hope to our children and our nation,” she said.
Mrs Edun also underscored the importance of introducing more foreign languages into school curricula to keep up with international trends and promote global peace. She explained that her school introduced Mandarin as a subject because it is the language that is currently gaining more recognition because of the growing importance of China in world trade and politics.
She said: “It is in line with international standard that we decided to introduce Chinese language. Some people have been wondering how many foreign languages our children will have to learn. But I do not think the children will lose anything if they learn English, French and Chinese.
“It does not prevent them from learning our indigenous languages. All we want is a situation where our students can compete with their peers around the world. This is part of the views that education should promote global peace.”
I am one person who is skeptical about free education and I will give my reasons.
For many years, free education has been synonymous with poor education. The common scenario is that the government announces it is implementing free education and says the learners should not pay fees. It then promises to build structures and provide textbooks, and other facilities for all public schools. However, when you visit schools, what greets you is the opposite: overcrowded classrooms, ill-equipped laboratories and workshop, and libraries empty of books. Also, the school structures are usually dilapidated (fallen roofs, no windows or doors, crumbling building, name it), toilets non-existent or so bad that they are locked up, and no water or electricity supply. School buses and sports facilities are a plus; any public school that has them is extremely lucky.
In such situations, teachers are not likely to be committed to their duties; and pupils would play truancy – after all, it is easy to slip out of a school that has a broken fence or leaky roofs or no toilets. The result comes out as poor learning outcomes. It is common knowledge that generally many of our learners do not achieve the minimum benchmark in public examinations.
Public schools are also prone to problems of insecurity because street urchins make the premises their homes – where they hold football matches, smoke hemp, sleep and pass waste. And as if that is not bad enough, they also threaten the teachers and pupils of the schools.
This picture of free public education has made the policy unattractive. While it worked in 1960s when it was introduced by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, critics have argued that corruption and increasing population and pressing demands of other sectors have made it impracticable in present-day Nigeria.
But of recent, some state governments offering free education have made efforts to improve facilities in public primary and secondary schools. For instance, Rivers, Lagos, Edo, and lately Imo States, to name some, have tried a lot in this regard. Rivers started with the construction of some state-the-art primary schools. Lagos also built some model secondary schools and initiated the Eko Secondary Education Project, which has provided grants directly to secondary schools to provide their own facilities and train teachers. We have applauded many of these governments.
However, at tertiary level, state governments have not tried to use free education to show how charitable they are. They are more likely to announce bursaries and scholarships (both local and international) to brilliant and indigent students, or reduce tuition fees. The part of tuition fee reduction is what I have quarreled with in the past. Ekiti and Lagos states have slashed fees of recent. Last week, the Lagos State University (LASU) even refunded over N200 million to students as surplus over tuition fees they had paid before the government slashed the fees to N25,000. Why I question tuition-fee reduction is that while students are happy – and rightly so – about paying less because times are hard, the school managements have to deal with further reduction of funds in its coffers. Most times, the government that reduces fees does not pay the difference to the schools to fill the gap in revenue created by the fee slash.
It was therefore heartwarming to learn that a state in Nigeria has been doing so since 2012. When Governor Rochas Okorocha cancelled fees at the Imo State-owned tertiary institutions, he followed it up with a cheque of N100,000 for each student of Imo State University (IMSU). (Students in other institutions in the state enjoy free education as well). This means that the university is still generating the amount it would have gotten from tuition fees; yet, the institution still gets its subvention from the state government.
Other state governors need to follow the Okorocha approach. If they do, universities will not have to come up with all kinds of levies to make the money back in other ways. While the governments put their houses in order, managements of tertiary institutions also need to make judicious use of funds. It is not only political office holders that mismanage funds; heads of tertiary are not saints. If they use the funds that come to them well, our institutions will not be as bad as they are.
If Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, the immediate past National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who is presently the vice chancellor of IMSU can actually run his university without students paying fees and says free education, then other school managers should take a second look at how they manage funds.
Awuzie said: “Free education at the university level is possible in Nigeria, it depends on how you apply the resources. All it takes is honesty, transparency, accountability and passion. When these are applied free education is possible”. Let us prove him right.
Philip Obaji Jr. is the founder of the 1 GAME Campaigns advocating basic primary education for the over 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. Obaji, who is also a Global Youth Ambassador, spoke to David Lawal on Boko Haram and it political undertone, Chibok girls and government’s role in education.
Kindly give a brief insight into your background?
I was born on August 8, 1985 in a town called Ogoja in Northern Cross River State. I am the founder of the 1 GAME Campaign, which promotes basic primary education for vulnerable kids in Nigeria. I am widely known for my activism for rights to education for Children, especially in Northeastern Nigeria. I’m a graduate of Marine Biology from the University of Calabar; a Global Youth Ambassador for United Nations critical education partner, A World at School; a member of International Network for Education in Emergencies; and a champion of Global Partnership for Education. Back home, I am an Executive Committee member of the Cross River State Football Association. I am soft spoken, a Roman Catholic and a man of peace. I believe in Nigeria and in every citizen of this country. And I want to play a role in making it a better place for all of us.
How long have you been into education advocacy?
I’ve been working for close to five (5) years now in education advocacy. It all started in 2010 when 1 GAME Campaign was founded.
What informed your decision to start education advocacy?
In 2009, I travelled to Ogoja where I was born. I had not visited the town since my family moved in 1988 when I was just three years old. I wanted to learn more about the place I first lived as a child.
I have had numerous conversations with my father about Ogoja, and he would often speak about its people, and how he missed them and their culture. Once arriving in Ogoja after a six-hour journey from Calabar, where I live, I was greeted by a group of young boys and girls at the bus stop, who rushed to me, begging for money.
The children were between six and fourteen years. When I asked them where they came from, they confessed that they were ‘Almajiris’ from Northern Nigeria.
They had followed a lorry transporting goods from Maiduguri in Borno State to Ogoja. They said they jumped into the lorry without knowing the driver and had no idea of where the vehicle was heading.
I was overwhelmed by the presence of so many out-of-school children and could not stop thinking about their plight and how to solve this crisis.
Thereafter I found 1 GAME Campaign aiming specifically at Almajiris helping them to enrol and complete their basic education. The name ‘1 GAME’ means that anyone involved in the campaign is asked to defeat violence, illiteracy and poverty – using education as a tool.
What is your disposition to the target on children across the world?
There is absolutely no justification for the target on children. Terrorists all over the world target children in order to strike fear and gain publicity.
Boko Haram for instance, gained global acclaim after the Chibok abductions. They got exactly what they were looking for. There are lots of similarities between Boko Haram which operates here in Nigeria, and the Taliban which operates in Pakistan.
While they both want to enforce full Sharia Law all over Nigeria and Pakistan respectively, they also want to ensure that there is no place for western education in the areas they operate.
But let’s not also forget that beyond these things, there is a political undertone to their existence.
About a year since the abduction of school girls from Chibok, what are the chances of seeing the return of these girls?
Honestly, no one is sure about the where about or wellbeing of the Chibok girls except their captors. There have been lots of rumours about them.
In fact, as we speak, there’s a video circulating around Maiduguri purportedly showing Boko Haram militants raping young girls and shooting those who refused to get laid.
Many people who have seen this video say the girls in the footage are the abducted Chibok girls, but I haven’t been able to get anyone to confirm if that’s true.
I can’t really say for sure if the Chibok girls are alive or dead or if they are safe where they are. Since there hasn’t been a word for some months from Boko Haram about the girls, no one can be sure about their wellbeing, and whether or not they’ll return.
Considering the present state of education in Nigeria, where do you think we got it wrong?
It started from the attitude of the government, and the trend is still continuing. The problem with Nigeria’s education has to do with poor planning, poor funding, and in some quarters, corruption. Take primary education, for instance, the Universal Basic Education Scheme was designed to provide compulsory, free education up to Junior Secondary levels, to be funded by both the Federal and State Governments. The Federal Government keeps 2 percent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund into the scheme and allocates money to the states when the states contribute its matching amounts.
However, we’ve found out that most of the states never made their matching grants, denying themselves access to the funds; and in states where they had been given the grants, the education sector there is still pathetic. That tells you that these governments are not making education their priority.
The population of out-of-school children in Nigeria according to UNESCO is equal to the total population of the entire Czech Republic (10.5 million), who do you think is responsible for this?
The government has the biggest role to play in ensuring Education for All. In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, 180 countries including Nigeria signed up to make the six goals of Education For All happen, committing to putting legal frameworks, policies and finance in place so that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, could have an education – one that is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable.
The richest countries pledged to help make Education for All a reality by committing to principles of international cooperation towards those countries with fewer financial resources.
Commitment towards the right to education was also reflected in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000 with a deadline for achievement by 2015.
Out of the eight Millennium Development Goals, two focus on education. Both the EFA and MDG goals are all centred on what governments should do, and not what parents or children should do to create access to education.
But as much as the government has a huge role to play, we as citizens must encourage and drive our children to education. Teachers must inspire. Principals must lead. Parents must instil a thirst for learning. And students have got to do the work in school. And if we can all do this together, I assure you we will build great ideas and push this nation away from the stronghold of extremists.
What’s your advice to government on providing education for all?
The government must show more seriousness in achieving the goals of Education for All. Education is achievable if government mobilises the political will and available resources. The government must recognise that education is a universal human right; that it is the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable human development; and of course, education is its core responsibility. In doing so, it must ensure increased provision of quality early childhood education and care; the eradication of adult illiteracy and a second chance to learn for youth and adults who miss out on formal schooling; an end to child labour; democratic participation of, and accountability to, civil society, including teachers and their unions, in education decision-making at all levels; fair and regular salaries for teachers; properly equipped classrooms and a supply of quality textbooks; inclusive and non-discriminatory provision of services for all; the mobilization of political will and new resources in support of National Education plans to realize the EFA Goals, including adequate public expenditure of at least 6 percent of GNP. Without this in place, it would be difficult to achieve Education for All.
In doing so, it must ensure increased provision of quality early childhood education and care; the eradication of adult illiteracy and a second chance to learn for youth and adults who miss out on formal schooling; an end to child labour; democratic participation of, and accountability to, civil society, including teachers and their unions, in education decision-making at all levels; fair and regular salaries for teachers; properly equipped classrooms and a supply of quality textbooks; inclusive and non-discriminatory provision of services for all; the mobilization of political will and new resources in support of National Education plans to realize the EFA Goals, including adequate public expenditure of at least 6 percent of GNP. Without this in place, it would be difficult to achieve Education for All.
Philip Obaji Jr. is the founder of the 1 GAME Campaigns to advocate basic primary education for the over 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. In this interview with David Lawal, Obaji, who is also a Global Youth Ambassador, speaks on the abducted Chibok girls and the duty of government in providing education for all among other issues.
Kindly give a brief insight into your background?
I was born on August 8, 1985 in a town called Ogoja in Northern Cross River State. I am the founder of the 1 GAME Campaign, which promotes basic primary education for vulnerable kids in Nigeria. I am widely known for my activism for rights to education for Children, especially in Northeastern Nigeria. I’m a graduate of Marine Biology from the University of Calabar; a Global Youth Ambassador for United Nations critical education partner, A World at School; a member of International Network for Education in Emergencies; and a champion of Global Partnership for Education. Back home, I am an Executive Committee member of the Cross River State Football Association. I am soft spoken, a Roman Catholic and a man of peace. I believe in Nigeria and in every citizen of this country. And I want to play a role in making it a better place for all of us.
How long have you been into education advocacy?
I’ve been working for close to 5 years now in education advocacy. It all started in 2010 when 1 GAME Campaign was founded.
What informed your decision to start education advocacy?
In 2009, I traveled to Ogoja where I was born. I had not visited the town since my family moved in 1988 when I was just three years old. I wanted to learn more about the place I first lived as a child.
I have had numerous conversations with my father about Ogoja, and he would often speak about its people, and how he missed them and their culture. Once arriving in Ogoja after a six-hour journey from Calabar, where I live, I was greeted by a group of young boys and girls at the bus stop, who rushed to me, begging for money. The children were between six and fourteen years. When I asked them where they came from, they confessed that they were ‘Almajiris’ from Northern Nigeria.
They had followed a lorry transporting goods from Maiduguri in Borno State to Ogoja. They said they jumped into the lorry without knowing the driver, and had no idea of where the vehicle was heading. I was overwhelmed by the presence of so many out-of-school children and could not stop thinking about their plight and how to solve this crisis.
Thereafter I founded 1 GAME Campaign aiming specifically at Almajiris helping them to enroll and complete their basic education. The name ‘1 GAME’ means that anyone involved in the campaign, is asked to defeat violence, illiteracy and poverty – using education as a tool.
What is your disposition to the target on children across the world?
There is absolutely no justification for the target on children. Terrorists all over the world target children in order to strike fear and gain publicity. Boko Haram for instance gained global acclaim after the Chibok abductions. They got exactly what they were looking for. There are lots of similarities between Boko Haram which operates here in Nigeria, and the Taliban which operates in Pakistan.
While they both want to enforce full Sharia Law all over Nigeria and Pakistan respectively, they also want to ensure that there is no place for western education in the areas they operate. But let’s not also forget that beyond these things, there is a political undertone to its existence.
About a year since the abduction of school girls from Chibok, what are the chances of seeing the return of these girls?
Honestly, no one is sure about the where about or well-being of the Chibok girls except their captors. They’ve been lots of rumors about them. In fact as we speak, there’s a video circulating round Maiduguri purportedly showing Boko Haram militants raping young girls and shooting those who refused to get laid.
Many people who have seen this video say the girls in the footage are the abducted Chibok girls, but I haven’t been able to get anyone to confirm if that’s true. I can’t really say for sure if the Chibok girls are alive or death or if they are safe where there are. Since there hasn’t been a word for some months from Boko Haram about the girls, no one can be sure about their wellbeing, and whether or not they’ll return.
Considering the present state of education in Nigeria, where do you think we got it wrong?
It started from the attitude of government, and the trend is still continuing. The problem with Nigeria’s education has to do with poor planning, poor funding, and in some quarters, corruption. Take primary education for instance, the Universal Basic Education Scheme was designed
to provide compulsory, free education up to Junior Secondary levels, to be funded by both the Federal and State Governments. The Federal Government keeps 2 percent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund into the scheme and allocates money to the states when the states contribute its matching amounts. However, we’ve found out that most of the states never made their matching grants, denying themselves access to the funds; and in states, where they had been given the grants the education sector there is still pathetic. That tells you that these governments are not making education their priority.
The population of out-of-school children in Nigeria according to UNESCO is equal to the total population of the entire Czech Republic (10.5 million), who do you think is responsible for this?
The government has the biggest role to play in ensuring Education for All. In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, 180 countries including Nigeria signed up to make the six goals of Education For All happen, committing to putting legal frameworks, policies and finance in place so that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, could have an education – one that is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable.
The richest countries pledged to help make Education for All a reality by committing to principles of international cooperation towards those countries with fewer financial resources. Commitment towards the right to education was also reflected in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000 with a deadline for achievement by 2015. Out of the eight Millennium Development Goals two focus on education. Both the EFA and MDG goals are all centered on what governments should do, and not what parents or children should do to create access to education.
But as much as government has a huge role to play, we as citizens must encourage and drive our children to education. Teachers must inspire. Principals must lead. Parents must instill a thirst for learning. And students have got to do the work in school. And if we can all do this together, I assure you we will build great ideas and push this nation away from the stronghold of extremists.
What’s your advice to government on providing education for all?
Government must show more seriousness in achieving the goals of Education for All. Education is achievable if government mobilizes the political will and available resources. Government must recognize that education is a universal human right; that it is the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable human development; and of course, education is its core responsibility. In doing so, it must ensure increased provision of quality early childhood education and care; the eradication of adult illiteracy and a second chance to learn for youth and adults who miss out on formal schooling; an end to child labour; democratic participation of, and accountability to, civil society, including teachers and their unions, in education decision making at all levels; fair and regular salaries for teachers; properly equipped classrooms and a supply of quality textbooks;
inclusive and non-discriminatory provision of services for all; the mobilization of political will and new resources in support of National Education plans to realize the EFA Goals, including adequate public expenditure of at least 6 per cent of GNP. Without this in place, it would be difficult to achieve Education for All.
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Benue and Taraba states have visited secondary schools in their host communities to sensitise pupils on the need to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). OLUWAFEMI OGUNJOBI (NYSC, Makurdi) and PHILIP OKORODUDU (NYSC, Jalingo) report.
From the hinterland to the riverine areas, Corps members took education campaigns to schools in Benue State. Last Thursday, 10 members of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a Community Development Service (CDS) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), paddled a canoe for about 30 minutes to Bukuru Local Government Area for educational mission at Binev Secondary School in Agwabi, a riverine village in the council.
Led by their president, Temidayo Adeyemi, the Corps members were received by Mrs Victoria Gbaa, the principal. They were in the school to sensitise pupils on Universal Primary Education, which is the second goal of the MDGs.
Addressing the pupils in the school hall, Ademola Oyinloye, one of the MDGs’ members, told them about the benefits of acquiring education. He advised them to develop passion for learning, saying only education could make them achieve their dreams of being future leaders.
He said: “We live in a century that is controlled by innovation and good ideas. Your role as youngsters is to create a future that you want to live in but this is possible only if you are educated. There is no limit to what you can achieve with sound education.”
Adeolu Oludeke and Airhe Esele urged the pupils to take advantage of their age to explore the opportunities in learning.
Mrs Gbaa hailed the Corps members, describing the seminar as the best capacity building for the pupils.
Temidayo said the outreach was to fulfil the goals of MDGs to ensure the message got to the grassroots. “We will reach out to as many schools as possible in the state, not only in education but also in sustainable development,” he said.
In neighbouring Taraba State, another set of MDGs members also sensitised for pupils of Calvary Academy in Jalingo, the capital.
Welcoming the Corps members, Mr Dauda Sangore, the principal, told the pupils that the academy was privileged to be chosen among the schools in the capital city.
The Corps members shared the success stories of MDGs with the pupils. Matthew Adeyeba, a graduate of Mass Communication at The Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY), said also thousands of youths in rural communities had benefitted from the exercise. He encouraged them to acquire skills that will make them employers.
Charles Odey, a graduate of Business Administration at the Federal Polytechnics, Bauchi, told the pupils that though some of the goals had been met, a lot still have been done. He enjoined the pupils to take their studies seriously.
Highlight of the event included an interactive session, where the pupils asked questions bordering on how to become MDGs ambassadors and to choose career.
In his remark, the Taraba State MDGs president, Ifeanyi Obiamalu, a graduate of Economics at the Anambra State University, Uli (ANSU), thanked the school management for the opportunity to reach out to the pupils. He said education remained the only way young people could grow to become future leaders.
There is no excuse for the education sector not doing well, says Mr Frank Nweke Jnr, former Minister of Information and National Orientation.
Mr Nweke, who also served as Minister for Inter-governmental Affairs and Special Duties, said quality education is possible if it is given priority by the government – like is done in Finland, Singapore and many other countries.
He was one of the panelists who spoke at the 30th anniversary lecture of Greensprings School held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos last Wednesday.
Nweke said quality education cannot happen by accident, adding that it takes deliberate policies and investments to make the sector work properly.
Using Mrs Lai Koiki, founder and Executive Director of the school, as an example, Nweke said the government can achieve great milestones in education if the right people are in charge.
He said: “If you have Nigeria investing less than – let’s say – one per cent of her GDP in education, how can you possibly see any change? You cannot see any change. It cannot be by accident. Nigeria cannot develop by accident. It must be, can only be, as a result of conscious, deliberate planning sustained over a period – with the outcomes clearly anticipated and improved upon on an ongoing basis.
“Government can do it if you have the right people in government. Governments in Germany have done it and are doing it on regular basis; governments in Finland are doing it on constant basis; governments in Rwanda are doing it on an ongoing basis; governments in United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore are doing it.
“So it is actually possible for government to do it. The notion that because it is public sector therefore it can’t work, for someone like me, holds no truth. I believe that it can be done. But you need serious minded right thinking people, who understand the value of education, to be in the driver’s seat, then it is going to work.”
The Guest Lecturer, Mr Daouda Toure, UNDP Resident Representative and United Nations Resident Coordinator for Nigeria, said education needs to be innovative to meet the needs of the 21st century.
Toure, who was represented by Dr Pa Lamin Beyai, UNDP Country Director, Nigeria, said: “We cannot solve 21st Century problems with 20th Century curriculum! Our un-reformed education system has served the colonial era and the immediate post-independence period. We must overhaul it completely to serve us in the 21st Century.
“Changes can also be made to the existing system through training and continuing education for teachers, review of the methodology, use of up-to-date learning materials, and adoption of pedagogical approaches.”
With mobile phones becoming more popular in Africa Toure added that educationists should think of how it can be used to educate young people.
“The UN mobile learning specialist, Steve Vosloo believes that, mobile phones could be the future of education across the continent. According to Vosloo, many African countries had greatly improved their education systems over the past 10 years. And yet, enormous challenges remain — shortage of teachers. For every child to have a quality education in 2015, sub-Saharan Africa needs to hire an estimated 350,000 new teachers annually. Vosloo recommends mobile phones as the solution to this problem,” he said.
The event featured a panel discussion in which the panelists advocated for innovative teaching and learning in line with the theme: “The future of education in an uncertain world: Re-defining Education in Africa”. The panelists were: Nweke, Mr Lere Baale, a member of Greensprings Board of Governors; Andrew Jedras, Member, AISEN Board of Trustees; Fidelis Nthenge, IBO Head of School Services; Olumide Olugbenle, Chairman, PTA, Lekki, and Sholape Tinubu, IB student.
Mrs Koiki said she started the school 30 years ago in search of a good school for her first daughter. She expressed joy that the school has achieved its mission and vision to raise globally-competitive children. Despite being from privileged homes, Mrs Koiki said the children have empathy for the less-privileged because they are exposed to community service projects as part of their curriculum.
She said the school, which now has a population of 2,300 pupils in its Anthony and Lekki campuses, has achieved great feats because it invests in teacher training and would continue to do so though its teachers are poached by other schools.
“New paradigms of teaching are being developed and teachers trained. That is where the bulk of whatever money we make goes into. We like to joke that other schools are just waiting to poach our teachers. But should we stop? We say No! Greensprings is about developing Nigeria. So if our teachers leave after we train them, we believe we are contributing to the educational development of Nigeria,” she said.
The programme also featured recitations and song presentation by the pupils, to the delight of the audience.
Professor of Guidance and Counseling, Prof Mopelola Omoegun, has debunked claims that mission schools charge too much. However, she said church-owned institutions need to consider ways to help their members afford the fees for their wards.
Prof Omoegun, who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Lagos Girls Anglican Grammar School (LAGGS), Lagos, spoke at a press conference to commemorate the school’s 60th anniversary last Friday.
The University of Lagos (UNILAG) don said given the facilities that churches provide without government support for their schools what they charge as tuition is not expensive.
She said: “Let me correct that notion: education offered by religious institutions is not expensive. By the time you compare private schools and those owned by churches, you will know it is not expensive. They have to break even because it is business, they have to pay the teachers well, and on time, so that there will be commitment. They also have to procure equipment and make sure the learning environment is conducive for the students to meet up with international standards. Now when they charge, it must be done in such a way that will make them run the school properly.”
Prof Omoegun, however, said that members who fund institutions built by churches should also be able to send their wards there. She called on churches to find ways to achieve this.
“I know the fees, like I said, must be expensive since there is no government involvement. But I think that is where there is a problem, if they used the tithes and offerings of the people to build the schools, there should be concession. That is my grouse, if you have used tithes and offering of the people, there should be consideration. But on the fees, it has to be high because people will expect standard, they should be ready to pay for it,” she said.
Speaking on the school’s diamond jubilee, Prof Omoegun, who is the Dean, Faculty of Education at UNILAG, said it has achieved the milestone of 60 by providing quality education.
“We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of this college today and it is commendable that the school owned by the Anglican Communion has come of age in providing quality education at affordable rates for the society,” she said.
The principal of the school, Mrs Mercy Akin-Ajayi, added that this would have been impossible without the commitment of the Anglican Dioceses to educational development.
Akin-Ajayi said the school has improved tremendously from when it was returned to the Anglican Mission by the state government in 2003.
She said: “Since the school was returned to the original owners about 12 years ago, it has been a lot of efforts. It is a pity we cannot bring back the pictures of how it was in those days. This place was a house for miscreants. Boys from Mushin and Ojuelegba used to come here to smoke, but today, the story is different.
“We have converted the Jakande-style shed to a block of class rooms. We have it in a storey building housing 24 classrooms. The Jakande structure had no windows. When it rained, every student would be in the rain and when it was hot, it would be very hot, making teaching and learning so difficult. We have also upgraded the hall. When we took over from the government who had taken it from us initially, there was no single glass left on the windows of the hall, it took some millions to fix. We were able to do this with the fees from the students. And we still have the fees at affordable rates.”
She added that the school hopes to use the anniversary to raise more funds, and thanked the old students who have supported the school in the past.
“We have an old student who is a professor; she recently endowed a N5 million scholarship for students that performed well in certain subjects. This is very commendable,” she said.
The school is one of the colleges run by the Anglican Communion in Lagos State and administered by diocese in the Lagos area. The dioceses include Lagos, Mainland, Badagry, Lagos West and Diocese of Awori.
Some years ago during the Obasanjo administration, he was told that there were no positions in hospitals particularly teaching hospitals for medical graduates to do the compulsory one year requirement as house men without which their training will not be complete. If their training is not complete, they will not be able to practice medicine and they will not be able to serve in the NYSC. The president gave an executive order expanding the training positions in teaching hospitals.
Around this time also a delegation of The Historical Society of Nigeria intimated the president that History had been muscled out of primary and secondary schools curricula and that no country can develop without a point of reference in the past. Furthermore it was pointed out to him that some of the anti-social behaviour noticeable in our youth and adults is a manifestation of the disconnect between the leadership and the follower-ship and between the present and the past. He was told that without solid grounding and connection with the past the present will be disjointed and the future will be uncertain.
The president was persuaded and he issued an executive order restoring the teaching of history to the appropriate levels in the educational ladder. Unfortunately the presidential executive order was obeyed in the breach! The ministry of education simply put one huddle or the other in its way of implementation.
The issue that is very critical right now is that of young people completing five or six-year medical programme in a university and having no where to finish their education as house officers. I would never have known about the existence of this problem but for the fact that my colleagues have children graduating and frantically searching for non-existent places in hospitals. I have had to join friends in this frantic search sometimes successfully but failing abjectly some other times. When my daughter finished her medical programme abroad, she did not have her dad around to run around looking for friendly CMDs.
This is a problem that needed not to have arisen in the first place if we plan seriously in this country. The Nigerian Medical and Dental Council must share in the blame. Whenever it gave approval for establishment of medical schools, it ought to impose quotas on each approved medical school. All medical schools ab initio should be required to indicate where graduates would spend the stipulated one year of housemanship after graduating. The hospitals need not all be teaching hospitals. All specialist hospitals and some good private and general hospitals should be encouraged and funded to take in house officers. There may be need for caution in all and sundry starting medical schools. If we are not careful mushrooming private universities may catch the virus of starting medical schools for profit.
Now that we know we have this problem the president of our country should issue an executive order immediately and not tomorrow asking the various hospitals afore mentioned to get cracking and solve the problem. Definitely there will be need for special appropriation to be made through the National Assembly and Senate. This problem must be permanently rested and terminated.
As a professor who knows the challenges facing young people, I cannot fold my hands simply because it is not really my problem. It is everybody’s problem. There will come a time in this country when old people like me will be challenged by young people for messing up the country if we can not plan well for the future. As leaders, we have become very insensitive to problems of the youth. There seems to be a total disconnect between the people and the leadership. The same disconnect manifests in the way we run the NYSC. Suddenly young people are being fleeced by asking them to pay N5,000 to access the NYSC website to register or get their states of posting ! Yet these young people are giving free service for their country. The same insensitivity led to young people stampeding after paying N1,000 to a private company recruiting immigration officers. Some died in the process including pregnant women. The illegality of the whole thing became clear when the Controller- General of Immigration Department said he knew nothing about the so-called recruitment. A job for the public service commission was firmed out to a powerfully connected company leading to the death of young Nigerians. Up till today no one was held accountable and punished.
Young people are posted and put in harms way in states where it is generally known there is no security. A few years ago, parents were called to receive the corpses of their children brutally murdered in Plateau and Bauchi states during break-down of law and order. One of the governors of the states had the temerity to say the murder of youth corps members was an act of God. Lord have mercy! If God were man, He would have struck down this erring governor with thunder!
James Baldwin wrote a book in the 1960s entitled the FIRE NEXT TIME to demonstrate pent-up anger among the youth particularly the black youth if their problems were not addressed. His prophesy came true when young Blacks during the Lyndon Baines Johnson’s presidency started rioting and burning down American cities. Johnson responded by passing a comprehensive Civil Rights Act and embarked on building what he called the Great Society. To his eternal glory, he laid the foundation of what has now been described as an American Century. We should not wait until we have the equivalent of an Arab Spring or a revolt by our youth before embarking on youth-friendly policies at all levels of governments in Nigeria. If we do not do something positive to help the young people of Nigeria, we may all be swept off in the violence and blind fury that are bound to accompany youth frustration, disenchantment, discouragement and disappointment with the status quo.
Monarch, Chief Adebayo Makinde, has blamed insurgency on poverty and illiteracy, saying that only the non-educated can easily be manipulated to engage in crime.
He said it would be difficult to convince a well-educated person with a bright future to commit suicide.
Makinde, who is the Sagua of Alaafin of Oyo, spoke in his Lagos residence during an interview on his forthcoming 80th birthday. He will be 80 on January 14.
The monarch, a pharmacist, said: “The problem of insecurity is also political apart from the fact it has a religious undertone. The only way Nigeria can move forward is to de-emphasise our religion.
“The economic level is so low for quite a number of people, particularly where there is high level of insecurity. We have to agree to reduce poverty in such areas. Those places also need modern amenities of life.
“Also, if we educate people, there will be development. The late Obafemi Awolowo tried to educate his own people, and you can see the result today in the seven states that make up the old western region.
“If other regions had made education a priority, we won’t have much problem today, because anybody that is well educated is more likely to value life.
“But if one is not educated, he is just a little better than an animal. Your level of education also determines your way of life.
“Therefore, Nigeria must really make extra effort to ensure that people are educated in places ravaged by insurgency.”
