It's from Vanguard Online Edition
| Expert harps on importance of early childhood |
| Written by Adekunle Aliyu | |
| Wednesday, 23 January 2008 | |
| "The root cause of students’ failure is from the foundation and this is due to lack of well researched information that will positively influence children/students behaviours through parents, school owners, teachers and students themselves." These are words of an Education Planner, Mrs Kobune Ben-Uponi (BSc.Ed Econs O.A.U, MBA) publisher of the Nigerian schools guide, Step by Step Educator an educational magazine all in her bid to promote quality education. She spoke with Vanguard Education Weekly in this interview. The magazine is all about learning, teaching and parenting. It is for teachers and school owners alike who want to know more about the current trends in teaching and learning as well as get informed on the topics and issues in terms of class room learning. The step by step educator also focuses at enriching parents on issues facing them and their wards in terms of parenting i.e. duties of parents to their wards, how to savvy their kids situation in school .It is an encompassing mag that educates both teachers parents and kids. Looking at the reforms in education so far what are your views in terms of development? Education in Nigeria is okay. It is coming up but the quality of results, the quality of graduates we have is nothing to write home about. For the reforms to be effective, I believe it has to be from the grass- root, from early child hood. Early child hood education, primary, secondary these areas are key areas that government must look into to improve the standards in the sense that if the foundation is bad then it will be a case of garbage in garbage out. Having said that with the reforms both past and present we will get there but not immediate it is going to be a gradual thing. What is your take on the quality of teachers we have in our schools today? The quality of teachers today is nothing to go by with and the resultant effect on the students is as we have in computers jargons in jargons out. The quality of teachers tells so much on the students. Does the Step by Step Educator takes a crucial look into early childhood education? Early childhood education or training of a child is the responsibility of parents and teachers in up bringing of a child. Parents should not neglect their responsibility for the teachers nor should teachers leave their’s for the parents they must understand that they are both responsible in the total development of the child. What we at Meribet consult opine is that the Child’s development is vital hence what we have done with Step by Step educator is to focus on the onus of teachers and parents. The parents should not just pay school fees and careless about the child’s developments, or if the child is taught the right curricula in school. So we use the mag to bring about harmony between parents, teachers and school owners informing them on how to go about proper up bring of a child because if both parties know what is to be done in terms of numeracy, literacy etc I think the best result will be reflected in the child’s development. More so the mag helps a child to capture very good reading habits as well as writing from tender age as it helps them to recognize how to break words into syllables. How can reading culture be improved in students in the face of prevailing home videos and other attractions that can take kids away from reading? Well, I will say most people don’t enjoy reading but our main focus is to promote reading and learning through consolations and our publication. Like the School guide and the educators. You talked about quality of teachers as nothing to write home about. How then can parents and school owners find quality teachers? Parents want the best teachers or tutors for their kids. You see a lot of them searching for home tutors, well they must know what to look for in a teacher before they engage one. A good tutor must savvy the learning style of a given child not that the tutor will stuff the kids with home works or assignments but teach the kids to be independent and that is key to effective teaching. How about cost? In any area of work, motivation is a factor to be considered mostly in our kind of environment money is key. Parents must pay to get an A class tutor to get an A class result i.e. quality education Mind you the teacher is a crucial factor when it comes to training of a child How do you come about the rating and assessment of those 1000 schools in your book? As an education planner we take our time to go to the schools to see what they have on ground that can bring about effective teaching and learning more so, we give the schools administration quality counseling on how to deliver good and quality education. So you look at structures and location? No we go beyond structures. So how do you marry schools that impress parents by not giving the true picture of a child’s academic performance? Well, you see in Nigeria the problem with our education is that “we buy education” in the sense that parent pay so much for their kids hence they expect so much from the schools and the schools too want to impress parents due to the amount of money collected from parents which they will not want to lose their students come a new session. Some schools upgrade their students' scores just to impress the parents and improve the school’s image that they are doing well or pretending to providing quality education. But if parents work hand in hand with the schools they will know their kids' capabilities. Parents involvement in a child’s education goes beyond just paying of school fees. In those days when you and I went to schools, the report card tells the child’s true academic performance but today the story had change. Having said that, mind you, the schools only help mold the child that is building on the child’s God’s giving abilities helping him to be independent in life so parents participation includes knowing the right school to put their kids and the Nigerian Schools Guide assists parents to chose the right schools for there sons and daughters. How can parents know how to choose a good school? The book helps parents to know how to access the schools they intend to send their wards to. The question to ask the schools and how to analyse the schools programmes and results are in the book Was your analysis done for those schools in the rich areas or all schools in Nigeria? Oh no !!! we did not segregate any area in our analysis of schools. We went to schools in area like Ajegunle, Mushin, Okokomaiko, Ojo, Ibadan, Oyo etc, most of the areas you will call area of the downtrodden were visited and took record of the school that are doing well there. So our school guide take into consideration all schools in Nigeria before we rated the best 1000 schools so far. |
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