Saturday 17 August 2013

Teacher can’t read own certificate?

BENIN CITY
When the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-
Kuti sang his popular number, Teacher, Don’t
Teach Me Nonsense, many thought it was just a
song but the song had become a reality in time.
It was sometime in 2011, when Governor Adams
Oshiomhole paid an unscheduled visit to a
primary school in Edo North senatorial district of
the state that he found out the rot which has
pervaded the Universal Basic Education in the
state.
For someone who has embarked on massive
construction and rehabilitation of schools in the
country of course, he must be concerned with
the quality of teachers in these schools.
Oshiomhole beckoned on a teacher in the school
and asked him what are his workings hours. The
teacher could not answer and said I don’t know
and later murmured “7am to 4pm Sir”.

A visibly shocked Oshiomhole now called a pupil
and asked, “where is your teacher? The teacher
standing beside him replied on behalf of the
pupil “na me”. That was when the governor knew
that he has a serious problem in the educational
sector.
A week after the incident, a group of Universal
Basic Education teachers who were at the
Government House in Benin to protest their non
absorption into the state teaching service
stormed the state government House, unknown
to them the governor was waiting for such an
opportunity to bare his mind on the rot in the
system. While addressing the UBE teachers he
asserted that employment into the state teaching
service will no longer be automatic, adding that
the applicant must show competence beyond
paper qualification.
He said to them, “the governor does not have a
guaranteed job, therefore nobody can have one.
You must go through proper interview. The
system must be convinced that you have what it
takes to be a good teacher”. He stressed that the
system must go through progressive change to
ensure that education is restored to its pride of
place, stressing there are teachers who cannot
speak English. “Whatever they were doing
before, we have to review it in the light of
current experience. We have teachers who
cannot speak English. I asked a teacher last
week what the working hours were. He did not
know, he said 7am to 4pm. And I asked a pupil,
where is your teacher? The teacher said, ‘na
me’. The governor disclosed that government
was going to employ teachers to fill the existing
vacancies, but it must be based on merit and
not geographical area.

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