Story of The Nigerian Teacher
tion, are assured and continue to Lord it over the disadvantaged majority whose access and upward mobility to the good life is stymied by the fact that they were not prepared to access those opportunities. A country such as that, cannot survive for long.
Leadership Alert
It takes leadership to turn things around. It takes outstanding leadership at all levels to turn things around. There has to be a sense of utmost urgency that realizes that our collapse as a society is imminent unless we take some very compelling and drastic steps to address them. It will require a reset in priorities. It will require a lot. We didn’t get to this point overnight. It will take some very heavy lifting, sustained over a very long time to get us back on track. It will require, honest, strong-willed, committed, focused leadership at many levels to turn things around. It will take engaging quality, knowledgeable hands to help turn things around. We have long been left behind as a country. What we teach our children is near obsolete if not completely useless. Our children are not being prepared for a future and world that changes every second. They stand absolutely no chance competing with children from around the world in what has essentially become a vastly connected global village. So, there is need for changes on several levels: curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, teacher preparation, etc. etc. While a journey of a thousand miles starts with s first step, our grossly disadvantaged position, require that we gallop at full speed just so that we do right by our children and our country.
BACKTOTHE FUTURE?
But we have to go to the beginning when it comes to the teacher factor. Teaching is not just a job; it is a calling. It is by far one of the noblest professions. So, care must be exercised in recruiting candidates into the college/university preparatory programs. One, it has to be established that these are candidates with the right aptitude and disposition for the profession. Secondly, these candidates cannot be the rejects from other departments. In other words, they are not coming into the teaching profession because they couldn’t get into their first -choice programs. Thirdly, they should be graduating in the top 10% of their graduating class. You can’t give what you don’t have. It’s an issue of capacity. Intelligence, promise and potential. Someone who can hardly write and speak standard English cannot teach a child to speak and write correctly. But our universities and Colleges of Education are filled with misfits for the profession. The other factor we have to consider is how our college and university preparatory programs are preparing these candidates for the classroom. The truth is that they are doing a very terrible job of it. I know what I am talking about and I do not have enough time to elaborate on this. So, these candidates come out totally ill-equipped to function in the classrooms. The irrelevance of what they are learning and how they are prepared for today’s classrooms will make you totally sick. So, when they arrive in the classrooms, these teachers are totally unprepared and lack the basic knowledge and skills sets to function and impact teaching and learning in the classroom.’
Examples
Several years ago, a family member was a member of the admissions committee of a college of education. He recounted how an aspiring student could not defend his glowing School Certificate examination results, yet, he had to be admitted, since his fees will help in providing income to the college, as no subventions come from the government.
Recently, this writer met with a medical student in one of the universities in the Eastern part of Nigeria. I was alarmed because the state in question is notorious for owing staff salaries, and her university is owned by the state in question. She told me that they are at least 100 students in their class, and the charges are high, to enable teachers be paid, without waiting for the government.
In conclusion, the stakeholders have to make up their minds whether to watch the slide in education continue, or, for the sake of Nigeria’s waning capacity development, ‘arrest’ the malaise by becoming alive to our responsibilities.
Problems ofTeachers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. staff.
Poor societal perception of who a teacher is. Allowing teaching to be an all-comers affair. Lack of commitment among teachers. Unethical behavior of some teachers. Poor remuneration to teaching staff. Lack of motivation/incentives for teachers. Political considerations in recruitment of teaching
Possible Solutions
Since we have allowed the situation to degenerate to this pitiable stage, it is incumbent on the government, the lead stakeholder, to purge itself of political inclinations and interests, determining to get Nigeria out of this educational wilderness. Practically, since English is the language deployed in teaching in our schools, present teachers, should be tested in the use of English, while “renovations” academically, are being carried out. (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)