Nigerian teachers choose education as an afterthought – Sirajo Sani

Hajiya Mariya Sirajo Sani is the proprietress of Starfield College, Abuja.
In this chat with Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu, she says a country’s standard of education is tied to the quality of its teachers.
Excerpts.

Educational background I attended Kaduna Capital School and Government Girls’ Secondary School, Bakori, before proceeding to Federal College of Education, Katsina, to read Mathematics/Integrated Science.
I hold B.Sc.
in Mathematics/Education and master’s degree in Multi-disciplinary Studies from University of Abuja.
I had worked in many private schools for more than 12 years before starting Starfield College.
The inspiration to establish a school I was inspired by the need to have an Islamic faith-based school that will cater for the 21st century, which is up to the standard required for this age.
A school that is all encompassing where the child can get the spiritual, moral and academic training.
For this, we established a school with a blend of Nigerian, British and Islamic curriculums.
We work with a consultant who is based in the UK and worked with an Islamic school there.
Essentially, our mission statement is to enable students with excellence in academia, spiritual, moral and cultural skills needed to become God adoring intellectuals and positive thinking leaders.
Pupils of non-Muslim background We have not yet admitted nonMuslim pupils because none has come for admission.
But our teaching staff is all encompassing.
We have both Muslim and Christian teachers.
Why the name Starfield? Starfield is the name we chose for our students because we see our students as stars that are growing up to shine and to lead the way.
Field is a place where stars are groomed.
That is how we came up with the name, Starfield.
Scope of the school For now we are focusing only on secondary education.
We want to perfect what we are doing now so that later we might expand to touch other levels of education.
For now we have only JSS I to SSII classes.
Branches of Starfield College Not yet.
We are only in Abuja for now.
We have just celebrated our three years anniversary recently.
We are moving into our fourth year.
For now, we are only in Abuja, but we have plans to go other places as time goes on.
Subvention from the government or NGO We have partners and people who have invested in the business.
They are the ones we are working with to put everything in place.
Nigeria’s standard of education What is standard of education in the first place? It depends on how we look at it.
If we look at the way we were taught and what is happening now, there is improvement in terms of training and teaching methodology being introduced in schools.
However, if we look at the general picture and what is happening to teacher training, then we need to work hard to get the standard better because you cannot give what you don’t have.
What do I mean by that? We have the teaching regulatory body, Teachers RegistraHajiya Sani Hajiya Mariya Sirajo Sani is the proprietress of Starfield College, Abuja.
In this chat with Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu, she says a country’s standard of education is tied to the quality of its teachers.
Excerpts.
tion Council of Nigeria (TRCN), which is working hard to make sure that all teachers in the profession are properly registered.
Teaching as a profession, needs to have some basic guidelines, part of which is the registration.
The bottomline is that many teachers go into the profession because they don’t have anything doing.
This group later goes for the post graduate diploma in education.
Those of us who have Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) and a degree in education know that to give quality education you have to undergo at least three years of training.
Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) is teacher training at the surface level.
The graduates are not properly grounded before going to the class.
And this adversely affects teaching/learning experience.
Some of the policies put in place are affecting the standard of education adversely.
During my time, we had the ‘A’ levels, which you go to after secondary school before proceeding to the university.
There were School of Basic and Remedial Studies (SBRS) and colleges of advanced studies and the like.
By then, getting into the university was not a do-or-die affair because we knew that gradually we would go to the university.
Things have now changed.
Now everybody wants to go to the university, so a lot of things are coming in.
Students now must pass SSCE by hook or crook.
Even parents want their children and wards to sit for SSCE in SSII and move to the university.
And because the regulatory bodies are not checking that, it has become a norm.
The nation’s policy on education states that pupils move to JSSI after completing primary six.
This has changed.
Class five has been there for some time but now parents are even moving their children and wards from class four to JSSI, and this is what is also affecting the standard of education adversely.
JAMB’s Cut-off points for education Those going for teacher training are those with low cut-off point in the unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME).
Consider JAMB’s cut-off marks for Education and those of Medicine, Engineering and Law.
The cut-off marks for Medicine, Law and Engineering are very high but the cut-off mark for colleges of education is very low.
That means those disqualified from universities are the ones to go to colleges of education.
The funny thing is that those who go to colleges of education because of low cut-off marks are the ones who will come out and teach and train the future engineers, doctors and lawyers.
This is also a factor that is bringing the standard of education down.
And as I said earlier, you cannot give what you don’t have.
If we want high standard of education we have to set high standard for teachers and they will be able to deliver high standard in the profession.
So, we need to focus more attention on teachers.
Education as an afterthought We have seen cases where people who have genuine interest in teaching did not choose education in the university because they said it was not necessary.
Education would not give them the intended financial and social status.
But after the university and when things did not turn well as they expected, they go for education as a last resort.
I have seen engineers and lawyers and other professionals that were looking for teaching jobs.
Future of Nigerian teachers I am always hopeful.
I don’t want to lose hope.
In the past, teachers were kings in Nigeria.
Pupils regarded their teachers even more than their parents.
Whatever the teacher said was right.
But teachers’ fortunes have changed.
Even prospective tenants cannot tell their landlords that they are teachers because if they said so they might be denied tenancy for the fear that they might not be able to pay the rents at the right time.
Teachers now are even ashamed to introduce themselves at functions which shouldn’t be the case.
By the time teachers are duly rewarded in terms of welfare, their hitherto social status will return and education will change for the better.
In Finland and other advanced countries, it is more tedious to become a teacher than becoming a doctor.
These countries make sure that teachers who teach their children are properly grounded and not just any comer as done in the country.
In Nigeria, the damages the teachers make is much more than the damages a quack can make.
State’s assistance to private schools Private schools are really the ones assisting the government because there are many school-going children whom government schools alone cannot absorb.
So, without private schools, many children who are in school today might have been out of school.
Although private schools charge schools fees, we need more support from the government so that we can do much more than what we are doing.
For example, if we are given the needed support, we will be able to bring down the school fees so that more children can afford to go to school.
Taxes on private schools We pay a lot of taxes.
Association of private school proprietors has been battling with the issue of multiple taxations.
The fact is that school is supposed to be a social service because teachers cannot be adequately remunerated.
Even if you pay school fees, you cannot pay the person who teaches you.
That person has sacrificed so much in order to make sure he or she moulds you into a better person than he or she is.
There should be subsidy for schools in terms of the taxes private schools pay so that they can operate better.
We need subsidy in areas of good, accessible roads, electricity and taxes for more efficient performance.
Private schools as profit making business Private schools, apart from social services, are business as well.
And when you establish a business you have to make something out of it.
We make profit in order to ensure that the social services we render continue.
Private schools pay bills, they pay the teachers, they pay for the renovation of their structures and other things.
And by the time you summed up all this, you realise that they don’t earn much.
Every time we keep spending in order to give quality education as we are wont to give.
It is profit making but we have to look at the profit margin, which in most cases, is very little compared to what we spend as running cost.
Scramble for British accent Quality education that provides correct grammar is better than acquiring British accent.
We need to know the difference between British accent and good grammar.
I have often heard people in the media speak British accent but bad grammar.
So, it is good grammar that is more important.
Some private schools get their teachers from overseas and children are likely to imitate the way their teachers speak.
Queen’s English is British accent with correct grammar, so there is a difference between British accent and Queen’s English.
The edge Starfield College has over others Starfield is a twenty first century, technology-based school that combines British, Nigerian and Islamic curriculums with relevant core skills to produce global citizens.

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