Grace High School, Gbagada, Lagos State has won this year’s Information Communication Technology Whiz kid competition organised by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). The administrator of the school, Mrs. Iyiola Tokunbo Edun speaks on salient issues on education. Excerpts.
What is still needed to give quality education to Nigerians?
Governments in other countries invest heavily in education. I was particularly impressed with Singapore when I went there. I saw the best schools, not privately owned ones. In fact, it is Ivy League Schools in Nigeria that can be compared with government schools in Singapore. I hear that schools in Malaysia are also well funded. These are countries that gained independence around the same time as Nigeria. Their governments invested so much in educating the people believing that it will help to boost their economy through innovation and investment and it is working for them. They have educated their citizens so well that they don’t have to call Julius Berger to build their bridges.
Governments in other countries invest heavily in education. I was particularly impressed with Singapore when I went there. I saw the best schools, not privately owned ones. In fact, it is Ivy League Schools in Nigeria that can be compared with government schools in Singapore. I hear that schools in Malaysia are also well funded. These are countries that gained independence around the same time as Nigeria. Their governments invested so much in educating the people believing that it will help to boost their economy through innovation and investment and it is working for them. They have educated their citizens so well that they don’t have to call Julius Berger to build their bridges.
The recent World Forum Report on Education rates schools in Singapore as one of the best in the world, closely followed by Belgium, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, France. This is because the governments of these countries invest heavily in educating their citizens.
In Nigeria, there is lack of literacy and half baked education. For example, some Boko Haram agents are given N5,000 to set schools and churches ablaze. Some might not even get anything. I think that if these people were educated and enlightened, they would not be doing this. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
In Nigeria, there is lack of literacy and half baked education. For example, some Boko Haram agents are given N5,000 to set schools and churches ablaze. Some might not even get anything. I think that if these people were educated and enlightened, they would not be doing this. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
This also applies to miscreants, touts and area boys we find all over the country. They are the repercussion of our government’s failure to adequately fund the education of its citizens. A government that does not invest in the education of its populace is sitting on a time bomb. Even at the tertiary level, Universities are not properly funded so we have a lot of half baked and unemployable graduates walking our streets.
Many school owners have complained about various taxes, levies being demanded by government. What do you have to say on these issues?
The effort of the private schools are not well appreciated all over the country. For example, at the state level, we are seen as money making machines, we are slapped with all sort of taxes and levies. This is not so in countries where education is highly appreciated, where the government supports investors in education with subventions and other tools. That is not the case in this country. Can you imagine schools being charged twelve million naira and above as tax? Even loan to build or provide equipments for schools, the bank rates are appalling. Some banks charge between 17%-28% interest on such loans. When will we ever finish paying the money? For a school bus, you need to obtain different documents from the local government. There is advertising permit, road worthiness, LASA certificate, Local government mobile advert for which fifteen documentation papers are required, gaseous emission loading and off loading permit and environmental permit. You can imagine the numbers of duplication of documents you have to cope with if you have eight buses. These are the issues the government really has to address if they really want the private sector to help develop education in Nigeria. There should be low interest rates of about 3-5% for private schools when they want to embark on major projects.
The effort of the private schools are not well appreciated all over the country. For example, at the state level, we are seen as money making machines, we are slapped with all sort of taxes and levies. This is not so in countries where education is highly appreciated, where the government supports investors in education with subventions and other tools. That is not the case in this country. Can you imagine schools being charged twelve million naira and above as tax? Even loan to build or provide equipments for schools, the bank rates are appalling. Some banks charge between 17%-28% interest on such loans. When will we ever finish paying the money? For a school bus, you need to obtain different documents from the local government. There is advertising permit, road worthiness, LASA certificate, Local government mobile advert for which fifteen documentation papers are required, gaseous emission loading and off loading permit and environmental permit. You can imagine the numbers of duplication of documents you have to cope with if you have eight buses. These are the issues the government really has to address if they really want the private sector to help develop education in Nigeria. There should be low interest rates of about 3-5% for private schools when they want to embark on major projects.
What are your recommendations for the much desired improvement of our educational system?
We just have to show more commitment to educational development. I am afraid, if we continue like this our children with be at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers all over the world. At this stage we still do not have enough chairs, enough libraries, and enough books. Our government should make school environments conducive for learning. It is very important for our leaders to keep in mind the fact that human resource development is vital to all other aspects of our development efforts. If we continue to have a very high level of illiteracy, extremely high level of poverty, poor and inadequate infrastructural facilities, development may become a tantalizing mirage.
We just have to show more commitment to educational development. I am afraid, if we continue like this our children with be at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers all over the world. At this stage we still do not have enough chairs, enough libraries, and enough books. Our government should make school environments conducive for learning. It is very important for our leaders to keep in mind the fact that human resource development is vital to all other aspects of our development efforts. If we continue to have a very high level of illiteracy, extremely high level of poverty, poor and inadequate infrastructural facilities, development may become a tantalizing mirage.
If we keep showing this poor commitment to the education of our children, if we keep sustaining high level of corruption, this pervasive mismanagement, I am afraid we maybe unable to come into full modernisation, democratise governance and full scale development. It is absolutely essential for leadership at all levels in this country to depart from this way of funding. At a time when some people have looted the fuel subsidy fund, university lecturers cannot get adequate funding for the Universities. I mean this does not portray us as a serious nation.
What is your advice for parents who want the best for their children?
Let them make up their minds to search for the best schools with up-to-date facilities. They should not settle for just any school just because it is cheap. To my mind it is better you pay for quality service wherever you can get it. What does a parent stand to gain if at the end of secondary school, you still have to send your child to a computer school to acquire computer literary whereas a good secondary school should have those facilities.
Let them make up their minds to search for the best schools with up-to-date facilities. They should not settle for just any school just because it is cheap. To my mind it is better you pay for quality service wherever you can get it. What does a parent stand to gain if at the end of secondary school, you still have to send your child to a computer school to acquire computer literary whereas a good secondary school should have those facilities.
Don’t you think students can abuse the use of ICT/internet?
There is a control measure. You can restrict children from visiting certain websites. That is what we do here. If they log on a certain prohibited website, they cannot get through because we put a barrier against such website so they can only log on to websites that have educational value.
There is a control measure. You can restrict children from visiting certain websites. That is what we do here. If they log on a certain prohibited website, they cannot get through because we put a barrier against such website so they can only log on to websites that have educational value.
How was Grace School able to win the national ICT whiz kid competition at the national level?
We have invested heavily in information Technology. We have hired very competent ICT teachers who have done a lot of work to impart the latest techniques to the children. At Grace Schools we are on top in this ICT aspect. All our operations are computerised.
We have invested heavily in information Technology. We have hired very competent ICT teachers who have done a lot of work to impart the latest techniques to the children. At Grace Schools we are on top in this ICT aspect. All our operations are computerised.
Our boards are interactive. We have E-libraries and internet enabled computers which our students use for research work. With commitment and hard work, we participate in the competitions at all the levels from the zonal to national level. It is not a surprise to us that we eventually emerged overall best because, with all modesty very few schools can surpass the latest technology we have acquired as far as ICT is concerned. It is therefore with a sense of fulfillment that we accept our prize as the number one in ICT in Nigeria. Our High School came first in the south west Zone. We then went on to win the prize at the national level. And we are grateful to God for this achievement.
What is your advice for school owners desiring to get to the heights attained by Grace Schools?
Well they should be honest and humble, ready to learn from those who have experience because you will find out that no one has a monopoly of wisdom. Hard work and creativity are also necessary.
Well they should be honest and humble, ready to learn from those who have experience because you will find out that no one has a monopoly of wisdom. Hard work and creativity are also necessary.
I will also advice school owners to bring their children into the system and get a written plan of how the school will continue after their demise. This will ensure that the vision will continue after them. The children being trained to take over must be well educated, must understand how the education sector operates and must have been part of the system. Such a child must love the job and must not be a spend thrift who will siphon school fees immediately they are paid to buy exotic cars and fund a bogus lifestyle. This is because running a school is a delicate business. You have to be able to manage three terms and the school fees for twelve months, this is because salaries and maintenance has to be carried out, facilities have to be upgraded, bills have to be settled on time or the whole structure could collapse. So my advice is that with discipline and adequate succession plan a school can exist from generation to generation
source: tribune ng
No comments:
Post a Comment