Oto Lijadu

You look very amazing for 84. How have you overtime managed this?

Thank you very much dear. Well I think being a teacher opened me to act always as if I was a student. Added to that, I had a very good time growing up and I have travelled a lot. By the grace of God, I have been to many parts of the world, which I never thought I would. I think when you have seen so much of the world and so many different people, it makes you to really accept yourself first, then accept people for who they are and what they do. I find that by having met so many people from diverse backgrounds, I am not really so judgmental and have no right to be judgmental. I just say that if this is how they do it, then that’s how it should be done. It might be different from how I will do it but we are all entitled to our right of life. All these guidelines have pretty much helped me through life. What was it like during your days at the Holy Child College?

Holy Child College gave me a very good background. I was very good at acting and spent a lot of my time acting plays. We had very good set of Christian nuns and I remember the Reverend Mother who was quite versatile and progressive for her time. She acted like she was beyond her age and she looked out for talents in each of us and encouraged us to develop it. We also used to do a lot of singing too, and we had a music festival with other schools. I really enjoyed my days at Holy Child. So, did your days at the institution have an impact on your life

Oh yes, it definitely did. When I graduated, I stayed back in the school, because the nuns wanted me to get a scholarship and further my studies abroad. It was at the time when the first set of black students were given international scholarships. I was one of those who got recommended and luckily I got it, and went to England for my Teacher Training where I specialised in Literature and History. But before I left, I taught the said subjects already at Holy Child. I really enjoyed the Teacher Training school in England. It is now a University in England, Portsmouth. Later I came back home and taught at Our Lady of Apostles College in Maryland. After that I went into administration for a short while. Not long after, the British Council advertised that they were looking for an Educational Officer. I applied and was taken. I worked for the British Council for about eight years and that gave me a lot of opportunities. Later on after my retirement, I started my own nursery school- K Group nursery school, which I did for 20 years in Surulere. It was a wonderful experience because I love children. They are really so special to me. I see a lot of goodness in them and they do take to me very easily. Even though it been a while ago, I still see some of my students and they are still so excided and happy to see me. Would you say there’s a difference in societal values and standard of education from back then and now?

Yes, there’s a big difference now. In our times, many of us came from homes where we had our parents instill very good training in us. So getting into a good college like Holy Child only enhanced all this qualities and values that our parents had already given to us. But now I find that the quality of homes these days are really appalling and I feel very sorry about it because it isn’t the fault of the children at least most of the times. I am thankful though that I am beginning to see some hope. I can see many good private schools coming up and teaching real good human values to the children. But regarding manners, I find that many of our young people don’t have those good manners that were instilled in us when we were young. Probably because there is a break down in homes, and a lot of children haven’t lived with their parents and the quality of teaching has fallen a lot especially in the public schools. Teachers are no longer dedicated or even trained properly. The other day I read in the papers where a Professor was suggesting that having a degree qualifies you to be a teacher which really is utter rubbish. Teaching is a vocation, you must be trained. There are principles to it, not to talk of the psychology involved. How do you think these issues can be corrected?

It has to be a good sharing between the school and the home. First the home owns the child so it should plant the seeds and then work hand in hand with the school in watering and nourishing the seed. How do you feel about HC 70-year celebration?

I am excited; it’s just like a dream. You mean the Holy Child College inception was 70years ago? The fact that the Old girls have all held on to the bond is amazing. We have the Old Girls association not only here in Nigeria but in the Britain and in America. I started the one in Britain and it’s waxing stronger. We all come together to help the school as much as we can.