I’d gotten an unsolicited news flash from MTN a few weeks ago on the Honorable Minister for Education, Prof Adamu Adamu saying that teachers were to become the highest paid workers in Nigeria. The implication would be an improvement in the educational sector.
Fast forward to a few days later, I’d gotten another story on a Nigerian celebrity who goofed when asked the meaning of B.Sc. This is an individual who I learned is a graduate of a tertiary institution, in fact, a college of Education. For those not familiar with the Nigerian educational system, a College of Education is a tertiary institution, primarily concerned with producing school teachers. It is expected to give all-round training to prospective teachers, who on gaining an NCE, would go on to impart that same knowledge on millions of Nigerian schoolchildren.
So, a teacher doesn’t know the meaning of B.Sc., or according to her makeup story, she couldn’t recall due to stage fever.
She is not the only one, she is merely a representative, and very good one, of the numerous College of Education graduates we have out there. While Higher Diploma holders from polytechnics have been clamouring for equality with B.Sc. holders, our NCE fellows have been silent. Beaming a flashlight on that sub-sector was very revealing, and saddening due to the fact that Ministers of Education – present and his forebears, heads of examination bodies and even parents have never raised these concerns that we would examine shortly.
Firstly, a college of education is the easiest tertiary institution to get into. Universities have the highest cut-off point for admission, followed by Polytechnics and finally Colleges of Education and trade schools. In plainer terms, a College has lower requirements. This means that the lowest scorers are sent to Colleges. I do not infer that these candidates are unintelligent, but we can all agree that test scores are a fair measure of academic ability and there is some form of positive correlation between test scores and intellectual ability. So we send our lowest scoring candidates to learn how to teach our children – who we have continuously echoed are our future. The scenario here is like that of a snake eating itself; if we send our least intelligent to teach our children, surely the latter would never reach our level nor their potential, then they too send their worst to teach their offspring and the cycle continues. Isn’t that evolution in reverse?
Secondly, having been forced into teaching, there would never be the same enthusiasm as you’d observe in a student studying a preferred course. This can also be physically verified on a ‘walking’ visit to any college of Education nationwide; on display is a higher than average level of disinterest, loitering, cultism, malpractice, indiscriminate sexual relations, truancy and a lack of understanding of their disciplines. A notable example is the College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo state, who shocked us a few years back when cultists placed the decapitated head of a student at the school gate. The situation report from sister colleges isn’t different from this.
I know a few readers who would not be concerned, after all, they can afford the private secondary schools where most of the teachers have Bachelor’s degrees from Universities. I put it to you that there is very little difference. Again, in Universities Education courses are also the easiest to gain admission to, the lowest scorers are pushed there, though the system is better structured and they are taught better, this does not really improve the quality of graduates nor does it address the very important motivation issue. There is an additional peculiarity, the Faculty of Education in most universities is the official dump site and graveyard of academic dreams. On failing from, let’s say Engineering or Medicine, the student is transferred to Computer Science or Microbiology, with further failure he may pass through Faculty of Agriculture or go straight to Education, the faculty becoming a pool of rejects. So, is there any difference between the forced B.Ed. teacher and the NCE teacher? Don’t they all lack a sense of purpose accompanied by anger and frustration?
How can we talk about modeling after the Malay or the Chinese system when we have these foundational problems?
I do not speak for the elite, they can afford to pay hundreds of thousands of naira per term for their wards in private schools that employ B.Sc. teachers, teachers forced into teaching by unemployment and yet paid peanuts. I speak for the average citizen, who can only afford government schools, often free, and as a product of one, I know how much good can be done by improving on their standards. But can quality improve and students continue to pay zero tuition? Yes, it can be done. The key is by not adopting a 5-year working plan or any other time-based cliche like the other failures we’ve had in the past.
As Ikem Osodi, my fictional mentor in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah would say, ” Writers do not give prescriptions, they give headaches”. Howbeit for the purpose of nation building I’d raise another few points.
Since we cannot call for the abolition of Colleges of Education due to the economic impact; loss of jobs, a shortfall in available teachers, and also due to sentiments attached, especially from mature citizens who may have been products at one time, why don’t we use the word ‘restructure’ peacefully? Let us restructure our colleges of Education. Couldn’t we make them run 4-year programmes with an expanded syllabus and vocational training with a heavy focus on optimum subject delivery methods? I agree with the Honorable Minister that increased remuneration is in order, this also would drive traffic to Teaching as a profession, with increased number of candidates it would be logical to raise the cut-off points required for admission thus improving the quality of intakes. Though some may argue that increasing salaries would bring in people for the wrong reasons, is it not a better option to what we have today? But wouldn’t this proposal join numerous others lost in the labyrinths beneath the 3-Arms Zone?
I and many reasonable Nigerians would be very open to abolishing the tradition of transferring our worst students to Education and instead transfer them to trade schools or technical schools without the need to write a fresh matriculation exam. The act establishing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board could be amended, upgrading it to a tertiary education board, facilitating horizontal transfers, serving as a liaison between institutions while the National Universities Commission remains a purely regulatory agency. Years ago, NCE meant a lot. TCII meant something. In today’s world, they are non-tenable. With bank jobs and other plum jobs looking for professionals like Engineers due to their versatility, and B.Sc., B.A. holders being forced to teach, where does that leave the NCE holder?
The B.Sc. holder knows all about science, the complex reactions, formulae and how to derive them but he doesn’t know how to teach a child. He has no knowledge of Child Psychology, methods of enforcing discipline effectively and overall assessment of a child. Another problem is that he too may have been a mediocre student who managed to pass or used the Nigerian tools, so he lacks subject knowledge and lacks teaching skill. Despite these shortcomings, he is preferred to the NCE holder. Where do these leave the child? Where do they leave our hope for tomorrow? Where do they leave our vision to become a world technological superpower by 2050? As we think of solutions, more problems surface.
Nevertheless, it is important Education is made a restricted profession, regulated and closely guarded. Since the Honorable Minister is planning to extradite the teacher’s reward from heaven, measures must be put in place to ensure it is not stolen by sharks and hawks. At this point, I must commend the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria who I hear have been doing so much to sanitize the system. Please do not compromise on competency tests and evaluations. I hope we are past the days when supervisors from the Ministry returned laden with yams, oil, and garri after “school inspection”? I hope we are past the days when teachers refused to go on rural posting but instead congregate in metropolitan schools selling lace fabrics and foreign bags? I hope lesson notes are being constantly updated in line with recent discoveries in Science – Pluto not being a planet at least…
Back to what we were saying, the tradition of retaining the best graduating or 1st class students should be applied to Colleges of Education too. With government funding made available, overseas training would be in order. With restructuring done, the NCE programme would continually be reviewed to accommodate for changes as the world evolves. Also, an overhaul would give graduates more options in the job market, with opportunities in Child Psychology and Mental Health, Career Counselling, Talent Spotting or even a full-fledged administrative career at the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs. Or who knows? even get exported to Europe as a social worker…
Most states have started conducting teacher verification exercises and results generally have been disgraceful. We’ve seen forged results, those unable to read, those who cannot write continuously and have all been teaching for years. Asking these people to return for revalidation and/or refresher courses would not be asking too much. It is a soft landing when compared with outright dismissal.
Furthermore, the Education Ministry should engage rogue private schools who claim to be using international curricula, adopting strange and confusing class structure and would rather have their students write “International exams”. This is Nigeria! We have an educational system and examination bodies. You cannot open a school in America and run 6-3-3-4 system because they have theirs. The Ministry of Education should not be coerced by the force of the word “international school”, there is no such thing. We must not allow our country to degenerate into a circus because we want to please a few people. Every country needs have its own laws, and if there are any lacunae being exploited in ours, we must close them for the victory of common sense over personal ego. An educational tourism would not do us any good in the short term or long term.
After all said and proposed, I have high hopes for this country, we have the potential to surpass the Americans, Malay, and Chinese, we have the will to survive and improve, we are only temporarily set back by indifference to issues affecting us and the intrigues of political maneuverings. Let us leave behind a Nigeria better than the one we met.
Written by Osaremwinda Osarenokese Osazemwinde
Osanorekete@gmail.com
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