During my time in primary and secondary school back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the focus seemed to be largely on classroom performance. The geeks were revered so much that anyone who did not perform up to their standards was essentially viewed as a failure. Jocks (athletes), people who had keen interests in extra-curricular activities, or those who seemed to focus more on socializing at school were viewed as the unserious ones or sometimes, even outsiders or failures. Sometimes, poor classroom performance was a punishable offence.
This is not to take away the importance of academics at school. Surely, it is imperative that we ensure that children get the best of what is available to be learnt according to the curriculum offered at schools, because well planned curricular are supposed to provide the basics for other life skills and cognitive development.
What about the cases of children who, back then, had learning disabilities but were labeled the popular term then, “olodo”? At some schools, children and some teachers would even go ahead to sing the Yoruba folk song, “Olodo rabata, oju eje lo mo je” to those who had weaker performances in tests and examinations. Imagine how embarrassing this was for young children, especially those who naturally may not have been very confident, were just trying to figure out their identity or build their self-esteem. What about those who actually truly had a learning disability?
At that stage in life, children do not have enough self-awareness to establish when something is wrong. So it is actually up to schools, teachers and parents to observe them carefully and detect why some are indeed slow learners. It could be that some are simply just lazy, some may not be getting the required support from their environment at home, but others may genuinely have a disability. Back in my school days, I was initially not aware of anyone who was identified to have had learning challenges. There were a few people at school who were constantly on that list of “olodos”, but when one of them moved abroad to continue school, she was discovered to be dyslexic. From then on, she got the required support to put her through school and eventually got admission into one of the highest ranking universities in the world.
Learning disabilities have been identified in the western world since as early as the 1800s, but it is quite impressive to see that now in Nigeria, we are beginning to identify this as a real issue and pay closer attention to our children rather than ostracise those may have otherwise been viewed as slower learners.
Apart from slower learners or those with learning disabilities, what about the cases of those who have talents in other areas? In the past, at some schools in our environment, being talented was not necessarily “cool” especially if this talent did not agree with what was popular amongst peers or even to teachers and school management teams. As a result, those who may have had such special skills may have hidden them from their peers and the world, or even worse, some would have given up on exploring them a little further and would never know where these talents could have taken them.
One of the main issues with this other side was the lack of focus on extra curricular activities at schools. This was the case in many schools in our environment back then. The few exceptions were those, which had a little more exposure to curricular that was not limited to Nigeria alone. What seemed to be lacking at schools back then was the importance of becoming a well-rounded individual who was involved in activities other than studying. Some important life skills cannot be developed through studying for and excelling in examinations alone.
The beauty of having a strong extra-curricular programme at school is that it presents the opportunity for children to learn certain skills that they would need later in life. Apart from the core talent development in whatever activity they select, they develop organizational and time management skills from juggling their academics with other activities; they develop social and team-working skills from interacting with others outside their classrooms; and many more. These skills cannot be taught through active learning in a classroom, they are developed in a more passively through exposure to certain environments and activities.
The importance of individualised focus and all-round development in the education of our children cannot be over emphasized. It is imperative that we continue to take these into consideration so that we give our children the best educational experience such that they develop into highly effective adults.
Oyin Egbeyemi
