The Nation Newspaper

Tag: school

  • A public school encounter

    I was pleasantly surprised by my visit to a public primary school in Lagos about two weeks ago. It was an initiative by a private school, Dansol Nursery and Primary School, Ojodu, to celebrate the Day of the African Child with their less privileged neighbours that took me there. With the support of the Dansol PTA and some corporate organisations, the school donated bags, writing materials, food and drinks to pupils of Ojodu Primary School I. The materials were more than enough to go round the 1,300 pupils of the school such that even their teachers got something to take home to their wards.

    Commendable as the initiative is, that was not the highpoint of the programme for me. It was my interaction with pupils of the public school, and their presentation at the second part of the programme that made my day. I am used to visiting public schools and not being able to communicate with the pupils except I repeat myself several times, or speak in the local tongue. I have covered so many events about various interventions by the government, corporate organisations or individuals and the experience has been the same. When it is time to get the views of the pupils, I meet a brick wall. They are so bad in expressing themselves in the English Language that I struggle to piece together an intelligible sentence I can attribute to them.

    My experience at St John’s Primary School, Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State, was particularly pathetic. I had tried without much success to get several pupils to tell me how the adoption of their school by Airtel would change their lives. Two journalists from other media houses joined me, so I gladly left the questioning to them. A boy that we asked could only struggle to say something like: “They have house…”, after a long wait to allow him compose his thoughts. By that time I could no longer stop myself from laughing out loud, despite trying not to cause discomfort to the pupils that had gathered to hear their representative speak. A teacher saved the day by selecting the ‘best’ pupil to talk to us. I can tell you that the best barely managed to communicate. This has been my experience in most public schools I visit. To get anything intelligible from the pupils, a teacher has to call out the brightest to speak.

    However, that was not the case at Ojodu Primary School I two weeks ago. When I requested that the Head Teacher, Mr Adebowale Adaranijo, get me a pupil, he entered a class and said: “Who would like to talk about what happened here today?” Many pupils offered to but it was Titilayo Oyebanji, in Primary Six, who came out to speak with me. She was able to express her appreciation of the gesture so clearly that I asked to speak to someone else, this time, a boy.

    Mr Adaranijo entered another classroom, repeated his question and called out someone for me. The boy did not disappoint. I had to congratulate Mr Adaranijo for managing his school well.

    But it wasn’t over. Dansol had invited a team from the school to participate in a cultural programme holding at their high school. They were to join pupils from other private schools to celebrate African countries by parading in their clothes, and talking about their culture, food and the like.

    Ojodu Primary School I represented Kenya. Other schools represented Liberia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ghana and other countries. When pupils of Ojodu Primary School I, mounted the podium, they were no different from their peers from the private schools. They spoke fluently, without making grammatical errors. And it was not that only one pupil spoke; they all took turns to educate the audience about Kenya, its government, people, their dressing, culture and languages. Someone seated close to me had to remark, “Are you sure those children are from a public school?” I would have reacted the same way if I had not visited their school earlier. I am sure some parents in the audience felt that they must be spending huge sums in private schools only for pupils from public schools to be able to achieve the same thing.

    Ojodu Primary School I has done for its pupils what should be the norm but has become an exception in present-day Nigeria. An average pupil in the school can communicate in English, the language of instruction in our schools. With many public primary and even secondary school pupils unable to do this, the governments of various states need to take a closer look at the quality of education service delivery and whether learners are achieving the stipulated outcomes for whatever level they are in.

    As I have noted many times, it is not enough for governments to tell us about the billions spent building classrooms, rehabilitating structures, purchasing equipment, recruiting and training teachers; it is also their business to ensure that their investments are yielding the desired returns in form of pupils achieving the learning outcomes for their levels. Many are not, which means it is not time for our governments to boast but to work at genuinely improving our schools.

  • Fayemi’s Ikogosi School

    Fayemi’s Ikogosi School

    For two weeks, 50 graduate students gathered at the scenic Ikogosi warm springs to learn. That in itself was counterintuitive for Nigeria. We usually see such resorts as ambience of vanity. But there is room for that. Kayode Fayemi, the governor who knows, made it sublime. He brought bright Nigerian professors from Europe, South Africa and the United States to tutor Nigerian graduate students of Ekiti State origin in a wide variety of subjects. This was a tour de force for graduate schools in the country.

    I learned that there was a huge contrast between what the students learned in the summer school and the daily digests from their local teachers. The students also privately admitted that. This is the tragedy of brain drain, and the summer school is designed to teach them how to keep abreast of the latest in research, thinking, debate and access to the higher reaches of knowledge in contemporary world.

    Graduate school is about rigour, and they got loads of that at the summer school from our local imports. We cannot keep them here, so the summer school is the smartest to eat our cake and have it, to let the professors teach abroad and also teach here.

    If we have this in the most elite of education, we can wonder what we have at the foundational levels. Education in Nigeria is our greatest tragedy today, and unless we tackle the quality of mind of the young in their malleable stage. That is why we must support moves like the summer school.

  • Dansol surprises public school

    The Day of the African Child meant nothing to pupils of Ojodu Primary School I until Dansol Nursery and Primary School drew their attention to it.

    Select pupils of Dansol, a private primary school in the Akinyode, Ojodu, a Lagos suburb, visited the public primary that caters for the education of over 1,625 pupils with some of their parents and teachers to share the story behind the day and some goodies as well.

    They distributed school bags, exercise books, biros and Ribena drinks to all the pupils of the school, as well as their teachers and told them why June 16 was dedicated to the African Child.

    Mrs Love Ogundipe, Head Teacher of Dansol Nursery and Primary School said the decision to give out school materials to less privileged pupils in the public school was initiated because – like the South African children who died protesting poor education during the 1976 Soweto uprising – many children today still do not have access to quality education.

    “I was touched when I learnt that children were killed and many injured because they were asking for quality education. After so many years quality education is still a far cry. I see children going to school with nylon bags and I felt we should extend a hand of fellowship. Our parents contributed to the success of the programme and we also got sponsorship,” she said.

    Mrs Ogundipe urged the teachers to take good care of the children so their future can be assured.

    For the recipients, it was a very pleasant surprise. Many pupils who were not in school were called to come and partake of the largesse. The teachers and pupils described it as wonderful.

    Assistant Head Teacher of Ojodu Primary School I, Mrs Justina Oshun said they were surprised Dansol came prepared for all of their pupils.

    “This is beautiful; wonderful. They gave us a surprise package. Initially we were scared the bags won’t go round because our population is so high. But they had more than enough. They were patient. They waited; we have been calling those who were not in school to come,” she said.

    Head Teacher, Mr Adebowale Adaranijo, said the bags would come handy.

    “This is a welcome idea because there is no such celebration in public schools. The pupils need the school bags. This school is densely populated. It is the only public school that feeds localities around Ojodu up to Alagbole and Akute in Ogun State,” he said.

    Some of the pupils are already keeping the bags for their secondary education.

    An excited Titilayo Oyebanji, a Primary Six pupil, said her old bag will still be on duty until the session ends next month.

    “We thank them so much because we did not expect them to give us all that they did. I will use my old bag for this Primary Six and the new bag for JSS 1,” she said.

    After the distribution, Dansol invited pupils of the school for a celebration of the African Child’s Day held at the Dansol High School, where pupils from various schools paraded in the fashion of various African countries, and educated the audience about their culture, dance, food and the like.

    Dansol pupils represented Nigeria, Liberia, and Algeria; Ojodu pupils represented Kenya, while other schools represented Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

    In her speech, Director of Dansol School, Mrs Adun Akinyemiju urged governments to ensure all African children have access to quality education and are protected from harm.

    “Until African children are given world class education irrespective of gender, creed or background, there will be no meaningful progress. I use this opportunity to call on the government of African nations to rise up to the task of protecting, defending and providing quality education for African children,” she said.

  • Christ’s School is 80

    The weeklong celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, yesterday continued with a ‘Walk for Glory’ round the Ekiti State capital.

    Officials of the school, decked in branded vests and fez caps, teachers, pupils and other categories of workers gathered at the school gate by 7am.

    They walked through Dallimoore, Okeyinmi, Ojumoshe before heading back to the school around 9am, singing songs that extolled the founder of the school, Archdeacon Henry Dallimoore, and others, whose influence contributed to the institution’s growth.

    The Headteacher, Christ’s School (Boys), Prince Adewole Akinyede, said the walk was held simultaneously in Ibadan; Lagos; Atlanta and Georgia in the United States (US); the United Kingdom (UK); Benin; Abuja; Port Harcourt and other places where old students of the school were concentrated.

    He said the celebration began with a service at the Emmanuel Cathedral, Ado-Ekiti.

    Akinyede said: “This walk is to sensitive the people on the weeklong event, which will feature literary and debating activities, career talks, inter-house sports competition, inauguration of a commemorative brochure, award ceremony as well as an anniversary lecture, to be delivered by former Nigerian Ambassador to the UK, Dr. Christopher Kolade.

    “All activities will be rounded off on Sunday at the school’s chapel. Christ’s School has produced eminent Nigerians, including Governor Kayode Fayemi.”

  • The Ikogosi graduate summer school:

    Fayemi introduces another paradigm shift in education

    Post the PDP locust years, 2003-2010 in the entire Southwest, but more poignantly in Ekiti, we can, with more than considerable justification, thank God as the Holy Writ enjoins us in 1 PETER 2: 9: ‘But ye are a chosen generation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light’.

    When, between 2007 -2010, Ekitis rooted for Dr Kayode Fayemi and swore to stick by him whatever the odds; when men, both within the state and outside it were playing god; when then President Obasanjo believed he could turn daylight to darkness, we were counting on nothing more than the almighty God and the young man’s democratic pedigree, his good moral upbringing, his well-known erudition and scholarship, the fact that we know this one is in good political company and will never lie to us and, indeed, that which we knew of his exertions in the cause of democracy and human rights. Even when ‘Mama’ was suborned, by the powers that be, to eat up her Christian conscience and ran, Awol, from her duty post in Ado-Ekiti, we stood firm just like we did as Fayemi and his illustrious Deputy, our own late MOREMI, Mrs Funmi Olayinka, went all through the judicial acrobatics and shenanigans a thoroughly misbegotten Nigerian judiciary could manufacture. Ekiti stood ramrod behind Fayemi until when The Nation’s highly perceptive columnist, Dele Agekameh called ‘Fayemi’s Final Triumph’, in his column of Wednesday, June19, 2013. That was at the Supreme Court on May 31, 2013.

    Now, there can be no going back as we see every stratum of the Ekiti society endorsing him, asking him to continue the good work even the blind can see -4 More Years for JKF – they say -Just Keeping the Faith. Fayemi’s good work is seen in every nook and cranny of the state. That, he ensured simply by deriving his government’s annual budgets bottom up. How?

    The governor, ahead of his budget preparations, goes on a state-wide tour of the Local Government areas during which the peoples’ immediate and preferred projects are presented to him by the people themselves. And, in clear contradistinction to our friends of the other party, Fayemi will let the constituents know that all the projects cannot be accommodated in a single budget, and that what could not be taken immediately will be included in the next. That way, there is no single Ekiti community that can claim not to have felt the government’s presence.

    I am happy; even ecstatic. Last week, it was: ‘Aregbesola waohs them’, during the past week it was a woman of real conscience, Mrs Bose Adedibu, widow of the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Papa Lamidi Adedibu, who could not , like other PDP members in the state, continue to live in denial, celebrating the Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi for his great strides. Said Mrs Adedibu: ‘I remember vividly that at that time, the people of Oyo state lived in perpetual fear of insecurity. But now, everywhere is peaceful and people are going about their business without fear or molestation’. That was aside her good words for the governor in other areas and we do hope she will help drum that to our Accord friends.

    Like his Oyo state counterpart, Fashola continues to dazzle, now building institutions that will immortalize him , just like Ibikunle Amosun and Adams Oshiomhole continue to receive rave reviews of their sterling performance. This is what I call being in a good political company; one that does not deceive the people.

    And this is where Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Ikogosi Graduate Summer School initiative comes in. Just like the Lagos state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, once said: ‘The buildings will come down in 20 or 30 years time. It is the institutions and the policies underlying them that will remain and once those policies are there, whoever is there in future can erect other buildings’. Fayemi has by the IGSS programme once again demonstrated that building institutions is the fulcrum of his administration, thereby erecting for himself, imperishability. This man will be remembered and celebrated long after many an Ekiti state governor had been forgotten. Of that, I haven’t a scintilla of doubt.

    What then is the Ikogosi Graduate Summer School?

    From his first day in office, Fayemi has agonised over the state of our education, at all levels in the country, but more pointedly, in Ekiti. He has been tortured to no end, for instance, about the loss of the culture of inquiry and moderation that the university represents in other climes, about journal articles that are everything but scholarly; to publications that are driven solely by quest for promotion and so add nothing to real knowledge as well as to the menace that VCs without CVs represent to the university system. Of course, says he, there are VC’s that are still eminently worthy of that name. I should know these concerns of his because I served on his Education Committed – one of his first set of committees – established very early in the administration to interrogate all the issues accounting for collapsed education in Ekiti. The IGSS is another building block to re-mediate that albatross. The IGSS is a bold move to turn Nigeria’s endemic brain drain to brain gain. In the words of the two co-coordinating directors of the programme, the suave and seminal Drs Wale Adebanwi and Ebenezer Obadare: ‘higher education has, from the period of the regime of structural adjustment, suffered so much depreciation from which it is yet to recover. A glaring consequence of this is brain drain with Nigeria now exporting what it so desperately needs, namely, it’s human resources and mental capital. This hemorrhaging of human resources, they assert, has in turn led to the loss of high quality manpower in our universities. The IGSS is therefore designed to provide access to highly-trained and accomplished Nigerian academics abroad to interact with graduate students in Nigeria alongside the home-based but no less accomplished and highly-trained scholars thus leading to the blending of global and local scholarship of the highest standards for the benefits of graduate students, first, of Ekiti origin. It will give the students an opportunity to access free and fine grain mentoring from foreign-based scholars in addition to local supervision which will constantly expose them to world-class research as well as engage them with ongoing global discourses not only about their particular disciplines, but also the place of Africa in the world’.

    The programme which has an inaugural 50 Ekiti graduate students spread over the liberal arts, social sciences, law, education, banking and finance, and that rallying ground and crucible of diverse disciplines – Africa Studies – kicked off on Monday, 16 June, 2013, to a wondrous keynote address delivered by my friend of many decades, the world acclaimed poet and teacher, Professor Niyi Osundare, on what he titled: THE SPIRIT OF IKOGOSI and there could be no better way of ending this article than by quoting Niyi at some length on what the government of Dr Kayode Fayemi has made of Ikogosi Warm Springs in its single-minded determination to make Ekiti the tourist’s destination of choice.

    Wrote Professor Osundare: ‘Consider the very location of the Ikogosi Graduate Summer ‘School’. Ikogosi. A place of near-Edenic serenity tucked away in the awesome flanks of Ekiti hills, made popular by the differing temperatures of its springs. Until recently, Ikogosi was nothing more than a promissory mantra in political campaigns and recurring decimal in the arithmetic of annual state budgets. Half-executed projects littered its landscape. Giant mosquitoes and dragon-like reptiles played host even in the most executive of its executive suites. Government after government extolled its potential as a tourist money garnerer, but fell tragically short of taking adequate care of the goose that was expected to lay the golden egg. But as we look round today, a terrific difference arrests our gaze: gleaming access roads, enticing swimming pools, cozy chalets, capacious multi-purpose halls, spacious amphitheatre (with dramatic intimations of the famous Christ’s School Quadrangle), wood-terraced tour walks, etc. A world-class golf course is rearing to tee off into existence to the pastoral astonishment of a sleepy Ekiti terrain, etc. A world-class golf course is even teeing into existence much to the pastoral astonishment of a sleepy Ekiti terrain. There is every indication that Ikogosi is beckoning to the world; the tourist naira rain is about to fall.’

    My last word though: those packaging Ikogosi Tourist Resort for the world should go no further than Osundare’s keynote address to carve its profile from the Advert nuggets he gave, pro bono.

    Without a doubt, God is good to us in Ekiti state.

  • Corps member floats FRSC club in school

    A Corps member and a member of the Road Safety Club of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Abimbola Shittu, has inaugurated a club at Onilekere Junior High School in Ikeja, Lagos as part of her Community Development Service (CDS).

    She provided kits for the pupils, who joined the club.

    She said the gesture was to ensure the safety of pupils and inculcate safety rule among secondary school pupils. She added that she picked the school because of it closeness to the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    “The school is close to the expressway and there is no provision for a pedestrian bridge. So the pupils are exposed to danger. This was confirmed in my discussion with the principal of the school who told me they have witnessed a good percentage of road crashes involving members of the school,” she stated.

    She said members of the club would be taught safety measures on the road and will be able to sensitise other pupils on how to make use of the road. She added that they would be agents of public enlightenment.

    The Unit Commander of RS218 Ikeja Unit of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Wale Odekunle, who inaugurated the club, commended the effort of Shittu and enumerated the advantages of the gesture.

    He said: “Daily, people are dying on our roads, and a good number of these deaths are children. These deaths are of serious concern to the Corps and research has shown that most of the crashes are as a result of human errors and judgment.”

    He added that in order to reduce the crashes and imbibe the right road culture on the populace, the FRSC would be establishing road safety club in all schools.

    “The FRSC has taken it upon itself to introduce Road Safety Club in our primary and secondary schools all over the country,” he said, enjoining the club members to be ambassadors that would help change the attitude of Nigerians towards traffic culture and bring the desirable change on our roads.

    The Chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area, Hon Wale Odunlami, commended the Corps member for facilitating the inauguration of the club, stressing that there was the need for orderliness on the road which the club could help achieve. He encouraged the members of the club to see the opportunity as a call to service. The council boss was represented by the Supervisor for Agriculture, Mrs Abiodun Adegoke.

    The Principal of the school, Alhaji Safiyu Sikiru, praised the FRSC and the Corps member for the inauguration of the club. He said the club would help the pupils to be road friendly and avoid crashes witnessed by the school in recent times.

     

  • School celebrates children’s day

    Pupils of Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, particularly those in Orisigun Primary School have been treated to goodies in commemoration of this year’s Children’s Day.

    The event was hosted by the Goldcrest Family Centre, a non-governmental organisation for widows, vulnerable families and children.

    According to the organisers, the choice of the school was borne out of the numbera of indigent pupils who don’t have enough of what it takes go to school. These pupils are characterised by poor performances because they are not well taken care of.

    Mrs Agatha Chukwura, convener of the event, told The Nation that the organistion has been reaching out to people in the last 10 years and that this year’s children’s day focuses on teachers and pupils.

    “The pupils perform better than the teachers. So, the debate competition, which was held among 10 schools, is to teach the students various subjects and career counselling, ensuring that teaching and learning are instilled in the public schools. The teachers and their pupils were given many incentives like fridges, flat screen televisions, rugs, blenders and other educational materials,” she said.

    With sponsors, such as ExxonMobil and GMT Energy Resources, it shows that there are people who care for them.

    Mrs Chukwura said there was need to sensitise from the grassroots. “Let us start from the basic so that in 20 years time, we will have a nation where public office holders are put in their positions based on merit and not tribalism or sentiments,” she added.

     

  • School celebrates children’s day

    Pupils of Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, particularly those in Orisigun Primary School have been treated to goodies in commemoration of this year’s Children’s Day.

    The event was hosted by the Goldcrest Family Centre, a non-governmental organisation for widows, vulnerable families and children.

    According to the organisers, the choice of the school was borne out of the numbera of indigent pupils who don’t have enough of what it takes go to school. These pupils are characterised by poor performances because they are not well taken care of.

    Mrs Agatha Chukwura, convener of the event, told The Nation that the organistion has been reaching out to people in the last 10 years and that this year’s children’s day focuses on teachers and pupils.

    “The pupils perform better than the teachers. So, the debate competition, which was held among 10 schools, is to teach the students various subjects and career counselling, ensuring that teaching and learning are instilled in the public schools. The teachers and their pupils were given many incentives like fridges, flat screen televisions, rugs, blenders and other educational materials,” she said.

    With sponsors, such as ExxonMobil and GMT Energy Resources, it shows that there are people who care for them.

    Mrs Chukwura said there was need to sensitise from the grassroots. “Let us start from the basic so that in 20 years time, we will have a nation where public office holders are put in their positions based on merit and not tribalism or sentiments,” she added.

     

  • ‘Over 10m children out of school’

    Federal Government yesterday released its scorecard of educational achievements for 2012 and estimated that a total of 10.5million children of school age are not yet exposed to basic education in the country.

    The report released by the Federal Ministry of Education in conjunction with some of its parastatals also indicated that majority of the affected children are from the northern part of the country and are mostly girls.

    Government also listed a number of shortfalls encountered in basic education delivery in the year under review which were teacher quality, inadequate classroom furniture, libraries, laboratories and relevant text books among others.

    In the scorecard, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) revealed that among 1.6million candidates who applied for admission into tertiary institutions in 2012, only 218,324 eventually got admission offers into various institutions.

    Further statistics also revealed that a total of N44, 100,207,962.60 set aside as Universal Basic Education (UBE) matching grants between 2005 and 2012 was un-accessed as at December 31, 2012.

    Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, at the report presentation which held at the National Universities Commission (NUC) yesterday called for private sector participation in the commercialization of research products churned out from tertiary institutions.

    She emphasized that such partnership would boost the nation’s economy through employment opportunities for the youths and by extension reduces the importation of similar products from other countries.

    Her words: “Over the years, we have been aware that pockets of innovations exist in our educational institutions. The challenge has been that of bringing these out to the public domain through commercialisation so that they can serve the interest of society.

    “The ultimate advantage of commercializing is that it would help enhance the nation’s competitive standing globally as a nation”.

  • School checks Maths phobia with contest

    THE Ambassadors School, Ota, Ogun State is hoping to reverse the phobia for mathematics through competition.

    Its proprietress, Mrs Victoria Olayemi Osewa said the contest, tagged: The Ultimate Mathematics Ambassador (TUMA) competition would soon spawn maths gurus who will no longer fear the all-important subject.

    She said the competition was targeted at Primary Five and Six pupils to stimulate their interest in the subject very early.

    “We cannot over-emphasise the fact that Mathematics is a key subject in the study of science. We have found out that students have a phobia for mathematics, thus leading to poor performances in science courses in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

    “In order to provide a lasting solution to this education malaise among pupils, we have taken the initiative of solving the problem from the grassroots by organising the TUMA competition, which we believe, will encourage the pupils to have interest in the subject,” she said.

    At the end of the competition which attracted over 120 entries from primary schools in Lagos and Ogun State, Stephen Aguwa, a Primary Five pupil of Life Crown Private School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, lifted TUMA trophy.

    Imo Amarachi of St Bernadette School, Ipaja, Lagos and Duke Miriam of Future Kids Nursery/ Primary School, Ikeja, Lagos came second and third.

    Stephen, a nine-year-old, went home with N100, 000, and a plaque, while his Maths teacher received N30, 000, some Maths textbooks, plaque, laptop and a printer on behalf of the school.

    Amarachi got N75, 000; her Maths teacher, N20, 000, and a plaque. Their school was presented with some Maths textbooks, a laptop computer, a plaque and a printer.

    Miriam got N50, 000, and a plaque. Her teacher went home with N5,000.00, a plaque, and Maths textbooks and printer for the school.

    Others winners between the fourth and 10th positions were presented with N10,000 each. Their teachers got half the amount in cash. All participants were given certificate of participation with consolations prizes,. Especially those who fell out of the first 10 winners.

    In her address, the guest speaker Mrs Ayotola Aremu from the Department of Mathematics Education, University of Ibadan advised the pupils to take Mathematics as a key subject because it links every other profession in life.

    “You can’t do without it (Mathematics). It is everyday and everywhere. Check your precious knowledge and work on your weakness,” she said.