In Kaduna, Teacher no teach me nonsense

Allan Leonard photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

“John Bull my son, I send you to school, you don’t know how to spell your name…” – Nursery rhyme

Some five years ago I had written under the title; ‘John Bull my son and our educational malaise.’

Again I have watched with trepidation the drama in Kaduna between teachers and the governor. In 2007 it was the same drama in Kwara state. I recall teachers with fake certifications in Ogun state. How about that skit between then governor Oshiomhole of Edo state and a woman teacher that went viral.

The pain is when the teachers wig should know better are the ones that can’t spell their name.

Over the week, I could not make it to the office, I had kept a young university graduate waiting, one of those hectic travel days, was on transit. He just finished his course of study as an Economist in one of the federal universities; he sent me a text message, after waiting, which read “I has be waiting since for you sir“.

I could not reply for a while, because upto this moment “I has be trying to understand” what he meant to say. Whatever he wanted to say, he reminded me we are a nation with a short fused memory, we forget after all the noise, show little or no outrage and move on.

So whether El-Rufai sacks the teachers or not, they strike or do not strike begs the real issues. We will simply move on, after all we have moved on from the JAMB cut off mark drama. We continue with our tokenism educational methods and systems; one that justifies a person’s inability.

It will get worse, if it has got to the point of “I has come“. Failure is recorded at mass level, one wonders how after 6 years in Secondary school and qualifying exams in WAEC, and or NECO, JAMB and post-UME we record monumental failures which culminate in “I has be waiting since for you sir“.

The level of failure and rot that makes it impossible for primary school teachers to pass the same exams they set for their pupils.

Is it the teacher, student, curriculum, infrastructure, the English premier league or blackberry phones?

How can the teachers be better than the system of which they are product?

A sneak into the answer sheets of some of the teachers revealed the repeated flaws made by these supposed teachers. The question papers not only met the required standards, but were the same the teachers ordinarily set for their pupils. The questions were also unambiguous and within the scope of the syllabuses. The marking schemes were exhaustible and comprehensive enough to accommodate all possible answers. Yet some of these teachers did not know the name of their state.

“However, apart from the dearth of basic instructional materials and infrastructure, poor remuneration of teachers, among other social factors that are facing particularly public schools in the country, one cannot help but observe many teachers had shallow knowledge of the subject matter, poor command of the use of English language, poor knowledge of the examination techniques, as well disregard for correct interpretation of questions before attempting them.

If the handwritings I saw of those teachers are correct; many illegible and their answers scripts are full of spelling errors. I cannot begin to imagine if they possess any manipulative skills for subjects involving calculations.

I am not surprised that many candidates try to cut corners by engaging in various forms of examination malpractice in order to obtain marks. When clowns like these called teachers teach them.

Despite all these lamentations, one good point “I has noticed” was the girl with nine A1s in WASSCE: reports say she is so brilliant her teachers feared her result would be seized. Miss Tolulope Falokun, an indigene of Ondo State; emerged as the overall best candidate in the 2011 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

17 year old Tolulope had distinctions (A1) in all the nine subjects she attempted, she was described as intelligent, hardworking, serious-minded and above all, highly disciplined pupil.

In an interview Tolu had told reporters, “Our teachers prepared us early for the exams. We had special lectures everyday more than four months into the exams because we had covered our syllabus since first term SSIII.

My Government teacher designed a timetable for me, which I followed religiously to make sure that I cover all my subjects. Our teachers also set up study groups for us and I did not miss any of these arrangements. I prayed hard and worked hard, using my timetable as a guide. I denied myself a lot of things especially social events.

I used to have a Ghanaian teacher who is very good in English language and Mathematics and he really taught me well when I was in the primary school”.

Tolu scored 290 in the 2011 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and emerged the second overall best student in the Post-UTME conducted by the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile –Ife with 336 marks.

Also a 24-year-old graduate from Zamfara State, Muhammad Usman, presented a paper at the 2012 session of the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF) in Denver, Colorado, United States.

Usman’s paper is entitled “Rural Solar Electrification-Renewable Energy Potential and Distribution for Development in Nigeria”. He is a 2010 Economics graduate from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Programme Officer at the Gusau-based Centre for Energy and Environment in Zamfara State.

Two sides of a nation–hope and despair, either a case of “we can” or “we can coming“. While we battle the scourge of local terrorism, bad leadership, kidnap, health, and countless issues, there is need to come up with some measures that could help both the students and schools to improve on their performance in future examinations, by extension resuscitate a nation’s dying if not dead educational sector.

Our students need to develop a good understanding of questions and also learn the basic rudiments of English language for better and clearer presentation of their answers. The sex for grades, bribe for certificates syndrome needs to be checked.

There is a need to ensure the appropriate textbooks in all subjects are procured and studied side by side with the examination syllabus, syllabus should be completed before the commencement of examination.

Libraries need to go info-tech, not littered with books of 1914. While practical on-hands learning away from just examination should be incorporated.

There is a need to provide basic infrastructure, and conducive atmosphere in schools, only qualified and committed teachers who will teach their subjects effectively and guide students to become exemplary in their studies should be employed.

Not like the teacher in Bauchi State (SUEB) that inherited his grandfather’s Grade II certificate and was teaching with it or University dons that have become experts in plagiarism, selling handouts pirated from other works.

Beyond sacking the Kaduna and in fact Nigerian teachers, questions such as whatever happened to the old school inspectorates system should be addressed. If these and even more rigorous steps are taken, we may be saved the irony of “we has failed” or we will continually be tied to teachers that are nonsense and will churn out the same, for how long—Only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

Currently Prince Charles, is based out of Jos, Plateau State, and conducts field research and investigations in the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria with an extensive reach out to the entire North and other parts. Prince Charles worked on projects for UN Women, Search for Common Ground, and International Crisis Group, among others. He is an alumnus of the University of Jos and the prestigious Humanitarian Academy at Harvard and Knight Center For Journalism, University of Texas at Austin. A doctoral candidate of Georgetown University

Born in Lagos State (South West Nigeria), Prince Charles is proud of his Nigerian roots. He is a Henry Luce Fellow, Ford Foundation grantee and is proficient in English, French, Yoruba Ibo and Hausa. Married with two boys, and a few dogs and birds.