By Michael Egbejumi-David<\/p>\n
Six years or so ago, when I wrote that Imo State has the highest literacy level in Nigeria, an Edo lady from the Nigerian Village Square disagreed heatedly \u2013 even in the face of incontrovertible statistics.\u00a0 She was trying to push the line that that distinction belongs to Edo State.<\/p>\n
So it gives me no particular pleasure (wink!) when a video turned up showing a school teacher in Edo State who is unable to read.\u00a0 The video went viral about a week ago.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure most of us have seen the video:\u00a0 The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole had made an unscheduled visit to a Staff Training Centre that was being used for the verification of certificates of primary school teachers in the State.\u00a0 Unfortunately for one Mrs Augusta Odemwinge, a teacher at Asologun Primary School, Ikpoba, this was the precise moment she too turned up at the Centre with her certificates and a sworn affidavit.\u00a0 The governor asked Mrs Odemwinge to read out her affidavit and that was when all hell broke loose.\u00a0 The teacher could not read!\u00a0 She was unable to read over half the words on the paper, and her pronunciation was atrocious.\u00a0 When the governor asked her to go write on the board, she demurred and asked to take the paper with her.<\/p>\n
Everyone present was taken aback; they were greatly shocked.\u00a0 Embarrassment was etched on the face of the governor.\u00a0 A kindergarten pupil would have done better.\u00a0 Watching that video for me was painful and quite disheartening.\u00a0 Watching the teacher struggle and bumble along recalls to mind another one time teacher, Mrs Patience Jonathan.\u00a0 This was someone\u2019s mother being put through the griller in public.<\/p>\n
And in a cruel twist of irony, sitting directly behind poor Mrs Odemwinge was the Chief of Staff to the governor.\u00a0 The one and only Igodomigodo, Patrick Obahiagbon, a man partial to turbulent and concussive grammatical bombast.\u00a0 The one man in whose very presence you want to watch your spoken English.<\/p>\n
When a teacher cannot not read; when a teacher cannot pronounce words such as, \u2018judiciary,\u2019 \u2018residing,\u2019 \u2018hereby,\u2019 \u2018registered,\u2019 \u2018declaration,\u2019 \u2018provisions,\u2019 \u2018solemn,\u2019 \u2018affidavit,\u2019 \u2018virtue,\u2019 etc, etc, what hope is there?<\/p>\n
What has happened to education in Nigeria?<\/p>\n
Back in December 2011, in the same Edo State, all the secondary school students that sat the National Examinations Council (NECO) exams failed.\u00a0 ALL of them!\u00a0 The great Ogbemudia must be crying in his beer.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, I found myself lusting after a young lady from Ogun State.\u00a0 She had a body and a backside that simply made a man\u2019s eyes water.\u00a0 You know, the kind of body that guarantees that she would always have more female enemies than friends.\u00a0 But when she opens her mouth to talk, you couldn\u2019t call her spoken English awful; it was almost non-existent.\u00a0 It was very, very embarrassing.\u00a0 I almost gave up chasing what it was I was chasing.\u00a0 However, the young lady had a degree from a College of Education from her State!<\/p>\n
When I also wrote that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, students were being taken out of some secondary schools in Kaduna as early as Form 3 and were being enrolled in Ahmadu Bello University\u2019s pre-Law programme, some folks from the afore-mentioned Nigerian Village Square locked horns with me in disagreement.\u00a0 But look at the shape and the state of the Nigerian judiciary today.<\/p>\n
Here in the UK, not too long ago, the General Medical Council (GMC) was forced to bar graduates of nine Nigerian Universities from practicing in the UK.\u00a0 Medical graduates from Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma; University of Benin; University of Jos; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Port Harcourt; Ebonyi State University; Igbinedion University College of Health Sciences; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology; and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka were not allowed to practice in the UK because, in the view of the GMC, the schools did not meet prescribed minimum standards.<\/p>\n
Also here in the UK, there are very many Law graduates of Nigerian Universities.\u00a0 But quite a few of them cannot put two coherent sentences together to save their lives.\u00a0 They are unable to pass the UK Bar exam.\u00a0\u00a0 In frustration, about half of them have become Pentecostal pastors.<\/p>\n
What has become of Nigeria\u2019s educational system?<\/p>\n
There is beginning to appear a very visible and a very loud generational divide in our educational quality and erudition.\u00a0 It is beginning to look like quite a few people that graduated from our tertiary institutions post the 1980s were not quite fully cooked.<\/p>\n
We used to export professionals \u2013 especially Jurists and Professors – to other developing countries to help develop their systems.\u00a0 Our military officers used to train and used to lead international military organisations and peace corps.\u00a0 Our schools and universities used to boast of renowned indigenous and expatriate professors and teachers.\u00a0 But not anymore.\u00a0 We now turn out teachers who cannot read!<\/p>\n
Some point the accusing finger in Babangida\u2019s direction.\u00a0 The man probably accelerated the downward spiral but I suspect the problem predates the evil genius.\u00a0 I think Ali-Must-Go started it all.\u00a0 Then came IBB.\u00a0 Incessant ASUU strikes.\u00a0 Then hunger.\u00a0 Emphasis shifted from learning to merely passing exams.\u00a0 Some lecturers became corrupt.\u00a0 They became more interested in food, money and sex.\u00a0 These they traded for passing grades.\u00a0\u00a0 Affirmative action and federal character destroyed the rest.<\/p>\n
Things were particularly bad during IBB\u2019s time.\u00a0 Government deliberately starved educational institutions (and the Police Force) of funds and support.\u00a0 They were crippled and made near worthless.\u00a0 As a result, disparate and chicken-shed private schools sprang up everywhere.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t quite know the rationale behind that policy.<\/p>\n
And so today, we have a Comptroller General of Customs who is unable to protest when accused of having someone else sit his school exams for him.\u00a0 We have a teacher who cannot read her own credentials.\u00a0 Please think about that for a moment: A primary school teacher who is unable to read!\u00a0 That means the future of the young wards under her tutelage is being severely compromised right at the very foundation.<\/p>\n
To make a bad situation worse, now, there is \u2018text\u2019 or \u2018texting\u2019 language and writing, and some of our graduates can\u2019t tell the difference anymore.<\/p>\n
Hmm\u2026<\/p>\n
demdem@hotmail.co.uk
\nTweeter: demdemdem1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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