Onyeka Jaibvo-Ojigbo is the president and convener of the International Educational Management Network, (IEDUMAN), a leading educational advocate and a foremost Think-Tank. As part of her annual ‘2019 Educational Empowerment Series’ IEDUMAN, is set to provide a number of skill competencies training, capacity building, professional recognition and networking to over 2,000 Nigerian teachers. In this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE, Ojigbo speaks on some of IEDUMAN’s activities for year 2019.
May we know some of the programmes and policies you are pushing to ensure quality teachers in Nigeria?
The Teacher’s Registration Council is like a regulating body for teachers. You are supposed to be qualified for you to be registered as a teacher. That means you are certified and qualified to teach in any of the institutions you are working in. With the same Nigerian peculiar problem, there is no adequate monitoring in that area. How many professional teachers do we have in the country? We are also trying to bring those statistics out. We are trying to get this information so that whatever we are talking to government on, we know we have the right statistics. What is happening now is that when people are not getting jobs, they will just decide to go and teach. There is a huge difference between just teaching and having a qualified teacher teaching you. It is a qualified teacher that will understand how to manage class and how to deliver that topic. Sadly, what you find now is that any graduate can teach which we know is not right. If graduates want to teach, they can be trained. So these are some of the things we are discussing with the Teacher’s Registration Council. We want to help them to monitor and screen these teachers again to know if they really have what it takes to teach these teachers because it is not enough to say people are failing West African Examinations Council (WAEC). How have you taught them and why are they failing it? So if we are able to do this, we will not change it overnight but I know it will eventually change. People will understand that if you have to teach primary school, there are certain requirements you must meet. We have the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) and they do weekend and distance learning. For every level, there will be provision to train you and make you competent to be a Nigerian teacher.
What are IEDUMAN’s programmes for this year and what exactly are you doing differently this year?
In terms of programmes, this year, the teachers’ project is very key and what we have started doing is sensitisation. I cannot give you specific dates but I can say that between now and the end of March, we expect approval from the government. By March, we should kick off the teacher’s training. We will do them in segments. We will segment the schools and the areas we want to cover. By April, we will have the Edu Skill Fare. This year we want to do it differently. Before now, it has always been one day programme. We get people who have skills and people with educational resources, they come together and show their skills and people come and learn. But this year, we want to make it is a two-day programme. We will do some training on skills and vocations, and hold seminars on the first day. The second day will be the exhibition proper where people will come and exhibit, buy and be part of what is going on. This is what we will do differently. Later in the year, we will have our annual conference and we are planning to get all the professionals both those partnering with us and the ones who we know have things to offer in this sector. Sometime in June this year, we want to get everybody together to network and sit down to discuss what we have done differently this year, what is improving and what needs more improvement in the education sector. We have set these goals and as time go on and more people are keying into the vision, we will come up with more programmes in the future.
In the next five to ten years what goals do you intend to achieve in IEDUMAN?
In the next five years, I want to see a structure standing and written on it Educational Resource Centre because that is what is lacking. People need to be continuously educated; they need to always be aware of what is going on. It is a global village now and we can’t be left out. If you go to other countries, they have Educational Resource Centres. We do not have any functional one in Nigeria. If you go to the internet, you may see but when you go and look for the office or the people, they are not there. Educational Resource Centre is key; e-library, resources and everything you need is there. As a teacher, you can just work into the centre and spend like 30minutes and you get what you want. So, you continuously train yourself, get information and look at how things are working in other parts of the world. Educational resource centre is key. It is a five year project and that is part of the things we are pushing our partners to do. When we have one Educational resource centre in one State, other States will key in.
Do you have evaluation mechanisms to monitor these teachers and how they are faring?
Our office is open to them, so they can reach us and contact us. IEDUMAN is private sector driven. It is going to be a one-on-one thing because everyone is unique. We are open to everyone; people can give us a call or meet with us. It is not our responsibility to go and evaluate teachers’ performances in their classes. Regarding the solutions, intervention and empowerment we have provided for them, we are going to design a lot of survey to get feedback to help us know relevant areas where we can improve.
The Teachers’ award we are having this year will also help as a form of evaluation because if you come from Surulere or Ikeja and pick maybe two teachers from your school and say they did excellently well, people will want to send their students to such schools and other schools will start to compete. So that award will help encourage other teachers. Former Governor Fashola did something like that. He was giving vehicles to teachers who did well and somehow, teachers started coming to school early in Lagos State. By 7 o’clock they are already in school. They are well dressed and they are teaching. They weren’t doing that until the car award started. So, such award is also going to help in evaluating and on a larger scale, when you begin to see that people are passing WAEC and Common Entrance, you will know that there is something that is happening differently.
How have you been able to manage IEDUMAN and your family without any one of them having to suffer?
Teaching is a passion for me. I come from a background of all teachers. Everybody in my family is a teacher, so I grew up loving the profession. In our days, things were not like they are now. When you go to school, you are serious to study. There was nothing like going to buy hand-outs. I decided to go into education fully. At first, I wanted to just shut the school and just run away. I actually shut down the secondary school and I don’t think I want to do that for now. I had my reason for just focusing on primary school. I saw so many things and I wondered why things had become this way. That became a driver for me. When I talk to people who own schools, some of them tell me not to worry, that I should just manage. I am not the type to manage, I have to speak out. For instance when parents get angry that you failed their kids, they move the child to another school. I couldn’t get over that. I however insisted on failing students that didn’t do well and if the parents liked they can move them away. These were the things that bothered me and I thought few of us should address this problem. It may look like it is a few of us but before you know it, more people will join us. We still have numbers in my school because there are still people who believe in what we are doing.
What can the individuals themselves do to encourage teachers to be at their best in schools?
School is parent-teacher effort. School can never work in isolation. What people don’t realise is school doesn’t train your kids. School is meant to educate and make your children literate. What they bring from home is what you have put in them. What our schools do is that they bring them in subjection to how we want them to be while they are receiving the tutorials. People think it is the school’s duty to train the children and give them character. To answer the question: What can home do? If your child comes to school and spends five to seven hours and we discover there is something in that child and we are trying to work in that child to overcome that, most parents don’t take it. They tell you it’s their child and they know what is good for him or her. So, if parents can corporate with the school, it’s a win-win. Sometimes, we give these children assignment to do at home; the parents will say they should take it to your teacher to do. So, what is your work towards your child? We know you are busy but you also have to make time for your child. So, parents corporation is key. Sometimes, parents come to school to shout because they discipline their children. They don’t need to do that, they can come and inquire and we talk and work out a way forward that will be good for the children.
