BANTER WITHOUT DOORS is back this week and Duru Chimezie is putting in a whole lot of effort to understand how our education systems are set-up to fail us. "Isn't a teacher meant to teach what he knows?" That is the question he's asking. A must read!
So many times we hear people
complain about the government in power. From being the reason behind the delay
of their treasured pension to being the reason behind their son's unending fever
and heat-rash. While some of such complains and fault-findings are downright
dumb and stupid, a good number of them are certainly genuine. I am
traditionally not the kind of person who would gleefully raise my hands in the
air and scream about how shockingly ugly and awful our government is, simply
because of some tribal nonsense or political-party affiliation. No. You
wouldn't see me doing that. But you will definitely see me scream madness about
how poor a government is if they are 'tested-tried-&-proven-ly' (sorry for
the unannounced word invention) poor! Sullivan of Enugu, Fashola of Lagos,
Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and a couple more Governors are doing (or have done, if
you like) excellently well. For all your probable dislike and detest for them,
their personality, ethnicity or party (that is, if you are among them that
detest), you cannot argue that they are one of Nigeria's finest governors. We
have to encourage the government when they are doing well. That is said!
But then, what about when they
quite ain't doing exactly just that? Well, you can blame and protest as much as
you can! I totally believe that you should! And that is the spirit behind this
piece I am doing this week. I feel mad! I feel very sad! Do I think the federal
government is doing well? Yea, to some extent. Do I think the federal
government is trying its best? Maybe. But then, do I think the federal
government has failed us in anyway? Yea! And in more ways than one! In fact if
I put everything aside, they have failed us in the way our basic schools are
run and administered. You will be quite shocked to know that we are currently
running a system which in itself is not
a system. I mean, how can you put in place a system that teaches people not to
teach people? Confused and lost? Well, that's about the same feeling I got when
I first heard about what's happening over there. Now, let me explain.
I have a relative that owns a Day-care,
Nursery and Primary school. The best in its locality and with a population that
beats its nearest rival by over 300%. Moreover, she is less than a year in the
business. However, I was speaking with her just this last weekend and she was
complaining bitterly about the quality of teachers she has. Now, not really 'quality'
in some sense but the 'depth' of each of them. I have been there a couple of
times, after she pleaded I should come around and see how things are going and
I wouldn't say the teachers ain't quality. They are. And their 'fat' salaries
don't look like a waste of resources. But she obviously has a problem with
them, which is a problem I also have with them and I assume you will too, when
you find out what. And that problem is Mathematics. For all their
excellence in English and all other subjects taught there, they appeared simply
knackered whenever Mathematics was the question. In fact, I learnt some of them
would be happy to avoid Math periods if they could. How bad. Not like they
cannot tell you what adding 4 to 8 will give you (even a caveman from the
ice-age can do more), not really, rather they lack the depth required to
prepare kids for a future that will have calculations splattered everywhere. And
when you bother to find out how far-reaching this is, you will be simply
shocked to realize that it is the norm in over 80% of private & public
schools. That should be your problem now, I guess.
So, who is to blame? A system. A
system I mentioned earlier on. A system which in itself is not a system. My
relative told me that the reason behind this pitiful situation is because of a
current policy in the educational 'system' (that system) the government has
adopted for the basic (nursery and primary) schools. Initially, which includes
my own Primary-school days, the basic requirement for a basic-school teacher
was the TC2 certificate; a product of the Teacher Training College (TTC). Their
training was designed to cover all subjects of the basic-school. From basic
Mathematics to Cultural Arts. And the idea was to make sure that every trained
teacher had good knowledge of every subject of the basic-school. Well, that
isn't the case now. The new policy of the current system has seemingly raised
the basic requirement. It is now the NCE certificate of the College of
Education which is of course a superior certificate. But then, their training
is designed for the Middle & high school (secondary). Over there they are only
required to pick an area of specialization which their training will to look to
make them masters of. While this sounds very coherent, the demerit that comes
with it when you bring them down to the basic-school is that they will usually
have little to no idea of subjects which their areas of specialization do not
cover. And that is why Mathematics is a problem. You will be staggered to know
that a vast majority of our youths who get admitted into Colleges of Education
do not either make calculation-related courses a major or even consider
Mathematics as a possible area of major. How they are expected to be guru's in
mathematics and teach our sons and daughters in a manner that will make them
space-rocket scientists tomorrow, beats my optimistic self.
How then were they drafted into
handing our kids in the basic-school in the first place? That's the same
question I am asking the federal government. I mentioned earlier that while
abuses and complains against the government are sometimes misled and 'stupid',
there are times when we do make outright sense. How won't you feel mad about
this? In a case such as this one, simply put - the federal government has failed
us! Period! At least in its administration/running of the basic-school scheme. How
can you explain setting up a system that in itself cannot be systematically
productive? You know what you have and aim to achieve but instead of
incorporating working mechanisms to see your resources used in achieving those
aims, you set up a system without any resources that will eventually happily
destroy the existing threshold you had before now. Bizarre! I won't stop
believing that there is something wrong with some of our leaders and policy
makers. We should go back to the old system or at least get this one
functioning. I am a product of the old system and I do not think in any way
that I was offered anything close to the 'poorest education' in the planet. We
have produced the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's from it and a whole lot of other
renowned sages. The system simply can't be faulty. Unlike today were the levels
of mass-failure have sky-rocketed. I don't even want to get you started on the
current woeful statistics on Math performance coming out of our entrance
examinations. Until we are ready to deal with the real issue which is training
our teachers on those particular things we want our kids to be trained on, we
ain't going anywhere. You cannot give what you don't have. 'Nemo dat quod
non habet'. See you guys next week.
------
We will love to get a comment from you. Scroll down to leave a comment...people are commenting already!
To follow our authors on Social Media, Click Here
0 comments :
Post a Comment
The 'Name/Url' option is advisable. You can fill in just 'Name' and ignore the 'url box'.