There Are No Dull Students, Only Dull Teachers – Educationist

By Joseph Dasilva

An educationist Mrs Evelyn Omolade Balogun, has berated claims that private schools get better patronage because they are better than public school lamenting that the gap is caused by poor funding of public schools.

Mrs Balogun, Proprietress of I –Tree International school, Ilorin who spoke with our correspondent in her office on Friday said that in over thirty years of  teaching both in Primary and Secondary school, within Nigeria and in the United Kingdom, she can effectively say without the contradiction that  public schools, owned by government have better potential to turn out good pupils than privately owned schools.

She said that the primary problem of education in Nigeria is the abolishing of teacher’s training colleges and the ones the lack of funding for the ones that are left behind adding that there is a scarcity of competent and qualified teachers to support the education system due to this neglect.

Balogun was of the opinion that the Ministry of education should establish professional development centres for continuous support for serving teachers adding that the classroom environment has changed with teaching and learning taking a new dimension.

She added:  “If the quality assurance department cannot handle the retraining of teachers, it can be partnered with successful private schools for support. Most teachers out there, their spoken and written English is bad, their mathematics is bad and even class management is nothing to write home about. That is why I am hammering on training and retraining of teachers, it is a continuous process.”

The educationist also said that there was nothing wrong in business moguls investing in education but warned that the relevant education agencies must ensure proper monitoring so that profitability does not over take competence and professionalism.

She said: “There is nothing bad if rich people invest in schools but the government should do more of monitoring. You can have your money and set up a school but the government should ensure that standards are not compromised. The school owners must ensure that though they are not always present in the school they should ensure that qualified handlers are put in charge. Education is beyond being a venture to make more, giving out a quality product is more important than profiteering.

“So the government should also ensure that these proprietors and proprietress are monitored to ensure that they train the teachers that are employed in their school. The simple truth is that government alone cannot provide what the nation needs in the education sector, the private sector has a significant role to play. That is why quality control is the primary role of government.  The government should see private schools as partners that they should support not as a way of making money.”

Balogun hinted that there is never a dull student where a teacher knows the job very well, but added that the challenge is most teachers are incompetent.

She said: “If you realize a student is not doing well, change the Teacher and see that such a student will do better so I don’t believe a child cannot make progress in learning.  Every child has a way they learn and the teacher must study to know this. Some learn by torching, feeling and some with pictures.  A good teacher will use the kinesthetic approach, do less of talking, allow children to do independent learning. You pair them and allow them to find out things by themselves. When a student makes research and discover things by themselves and come to meet you later for final support, they don’t forget. In this country, the teacher does more of talking and teaching has moved away from that level. Modern-day learning is about enquiring, you allow children to enquire about things independently.”

She finally berated that today’s parent has little or no time for their children as most of them who are not taken away by profession engage in self recreation on social media.

She said: “Parents should give more attention to their children, funny enough some parents don’t know when their children go to bed, when they sleep, what they eat, they don’t monitor their children. As a parent, you should know the friend your children keep. As a parent, you should be close to your children so that when they have challenges, they could fall back and discuss with you. The parent should be there for their children always.”