Reaping Exceptional Mentorship Reward From Old Students, Five Decades After
saw him and knew he was the one but they all refused to identify the culprit even after calling a special assembly to persuade them to fish him out. So, I decided they would all contribute money to replace the wall clock, and at the end the money was so much that we ended up buying wall clock for each classroom. Well, of course the government heard and sent their inspectors to nail me for collecting money from the students, which of course their parents were compelled to give them. When they came and started questioning me, I told them to go to all the classrooms then come back to tell me what they saw. They returned and were impressed at the sight of each classroom having wall clock. When they asked why I had to do that I said I took the money from them to teach a lesson. Thereafter, my children would never steal again and if they saw anyone stealing they would expose them. With that, I was satisfied. I didn’t care what the government said, whether I was called a rebel or not, so long as I was sure and convinced my actions were right for the good of the students and the school, then I went ahead irrespective the odds.”
As a teacher, she realised that no student is irredeemable as there is always a grassroots’ reason for that defect in character. “I go to their homes, pay unscheduled visits to their homes at midweek, Saturday, Sunday, anytime. Sometimes, I even went to their parents’ workplace or shops just to meet with them, to find out what could have led to the unbecoming character of their wards. From listening to them, we were able to fix the loose nuts. Even the children told me things they would never tell their parents at home,” Adegoke confesses.
What is her impression of the honour bestowed on her by the old students? She laughs. She draws a deep breath and says, “I feel really blessed. People say I look good and younger than 80 and I tell them it is not money that makes me look this good. As a Muslim, I believe that the Almighty Allah is paying me for looking after all those children. My job was to ensure that they all learnt, be well behaved and come out in flying colours at their Secondary Certificate Exams. I just did my job the way I felt was appropriate till I retired.” She believes commissioning the laboratory in her honour, and giving her wonderful gifts and cash of N500, 000 was a pleasant surprise. “It is not only the 1977 set; other sets before and after them have been showering me with so much love, gifts and appreciation both in kind and cash. So, I am very happy and my take home in all they have done for me is: Life is good and you take out what you put in it. So, whatsoever we chose to do in life, we should do well. If there is a second coming in life, when I come again, I will still choose teaching as my career.”
She does not think that the country has invested well in the education sector. “We should all recognise that a good educational system is built by the government, parents and the students themselves. The parents are a very important stakeholder and must be given the chance to participate in the decision making of what happens to their children. Yes, the government has a responsibility to footing a crucial part of the bill but not all, as parents have a responsibility to foot their children’s education bill too as major stakeholder.” She reiterates that government is not doing enough for the sector. According to her, inadequate investment in education has brought about little opportunity for training and retraining which must happen from primary to tertiary level so that teachers meet up to international standard and are up to date in the education sector worldwide. “Research is non-existing in the tertiary level where there should be constant research. The money for the research engagements should come from government but they are not investing in the sector. Some parents too are not investing enough in their children’s educational development and I cannot really blame them because things are really hard in the country now. In other homes where parents invest financially, they become absent parents who leave early in the morning and come back late night, their children barely see them, they don’t know what they learnt in school or their behavioral development, the children are left with the teachers in the school, the house-help at home and perhaps the private teacher at home, these people decide what happens to their lives and the parents practically have no say in it.”
Commenting on the high rate of out-ofschool children in the country, ‘Mama’ as her students used to call her, points out that poverty has aided the social menace. Her words: “Parents of most of the out-of-school children are poor. They do not have enough money to feed themselves, so they don’t think about sending their children to school. Yes, the government schools are supposedly free but the truth is; is education entirely free? This is the truth we have to face squarely. Some families have many children and these children have to hawk goods to contribute to the welfare of the family. There is no social help from government for such family, so, the poverty is intense that the priority becomes tackling hunger and education becomes an inconsequential burden for such family. There should be availability of jobs for these parents, when they can afford to feed their children they will remember education.”
On the measures government should put in place to ensure that only teachers who are passionate about the job teach students, she has this to say: “You should know that no teacher would run an extra mile unless they understand what teaching is about. However, government has already started taking the necessary measures as they have increased teacher’s salary compared to when the salary was very poor. They’ve also upgraded some of the buildings, so, students in public schools do not feel like second-class citizens to students in private schools. They have also put in place teachers registration council so that anyone who is not a trained teacher is not allowed to teach even if you have series of professional degrees. So, the government is at work, but they just need to up their games, find out what is happening in the education sector of developed countries and upgrade, such that it is the best of the best graduates in academics that teach and manage the schools.”