An Enduring Social Insurance Scheme for Teachers, Merit will Boost Education, Says Provost

In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the Provost of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe, Dr. Nosiru Onibon explained why an enduring social insurance scheme must be institutionalised to further motivate teachers in the country and why emphasis must be placed on merit in the decision of admission of students, employment of teachers and appointment of heads of institutions, so that Nigeria can move forward educationally. Excerpts:

One of the objectives of your institution is to conduct ressearch with respect to education, to what extent has this been acheived and what impact has it made on the country?

Our institution was established about 26 years ago with the sole aim of producing teachers at the basic level of our education system. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria, we are built to produce quality teachers and conduct research into our basic education system in all ramifications in order to improve on that level. The college so far has performed above average to raising such quality educators for Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general. We have found our students not only in the classrooms, but some of them have gone farther after their NCE to obtain additional postgraduate certificate. Some of them are back in the classroom as lecturers, some are in other institutions as lecturers, some are in education establishments as policy makers and policy implementors, among others. The college has performed above average as expected by the founding fathers. TETFund has approved for our college lecturers that do research into various areas of our basic education system in Nigeria. Just last week, I signed for nine of them that are going to take their last tranch of the funding from TETFund. In the last three years that I came on board, I have over 20 various researches sponsored by TETFund to the tune of at least N1.2 million for each of the reseachers. About 15 of them have concluded their research and taken their last tranch. The outcome of their researches have been published in reputable journals. So we are living up to expectations. On their impact on their country, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) last year, approved for our college to participate in training of teachers in primary schools and currently, we are in the third stage of such training for all the teachers in primary schools and early education in Lagos State. UBEC works through the Lagos Education Board, so they have our college and LASU alone. Our impact not only tells in Lagos, but in Nigeria as a whole. So that gives us the recognition by UBEC to do this training for teachers to improve on their quality.

Education in Nigeria seems to have been politicised, do you share in this view, and what do you think should be the way forward?

Education needs to go through policy process making and implementation. In the analysis of the education policy, we see that there is a degree of politics in it. That is natural, but what is bad is to allow politics to becloud the whole system and that will affect the quality and the general outcome of the education system, for instance on the issue of quota system, catchment area, ethnicity, religion, godfatherism and consideration in students’ admission. I am not in support of closing our eyes to the use of merit instead of quota system. We can allow quota system to a certain degree, for instance researches have shown that certain areas are educationally disadvantaged. If we have such, then the application of quota system may come in. If we have 5,000 candidates to be admitted into a university, we can allocate maybe five or 10 per cent to catchment area because of their disadvantage so that we can balance the education output, quality of education and the number of the people we have educated in the country. In a situation where we just closed our eyes against merit and we are talking about ethnic, religion or godfatherism in admissions and employment of teachers, things will not augur well. I advocate that we should look at merit especially in the area of who heads these institutions either colleges, polytechnics or universities. We should also use merit to employ who teaches in these schools because the level of our education will be determined by the quality of the educators themselves. So that is why I am against the complete politicisation of our education system. As far as am concerned, our policy makers should give merit a place in the decision of admission of students, employment of teachers and appointment of heads of institutions.

Education has continued to receive poor allocation from the national budget, where do you think we got it wrong as a nation?

We got it wrong as a nation due to the politicisation of our education and all aspects of our lives. We give credence to our lives that we will gain from. The policy makers are pursuing what will satisfy their selfish interest and that is why you find so much of budgetary allocation in areas that the public may not be able to put their searchlight on. If education budget continues to get dwindled, the quality of what we get will be watered down. Not only that the budget is dwindling, the application and implementation of the paltry sum for education is cornered by corrupt officials. If you like, budget 100 per cent for education, if implementators are corrupt, we will still continue to get it wrong. Sometime in this country, we had as low as 10 per cent, assuming it is ultimally applied to education, we will not be where we are today. So if we have low budget, we will need to battle with inadequate infrastructure, inadequate training for existing teachers, inadequate recruitment of quality teachers, inconsistent policy and poor perception as we have today.
We have poor perception of teacher education including the teachers themselves. The society perception of teachers is poor and that is why we will not want to advise our children to study education in the higher institution because we don’t see them as people who are very important in the society.

Would you attribute that to why teachers are poorly paid in the country?

Yes. Add to that is what I call ecology of education which is also very poor. How does the classroom look like? The seats for teachers and students are inadequate, classroom environment is not conducive. If the classrooms are conducive and the teaching apparatus are there, teaching methodology is being improved on, and the teachers have the technological know-how to deliver what they have to impart the students, you will want to come to the classroom. For instance if I travel abroad, what I deliver for 40 minutes, takes me two hours to deliever here in Nigeria. When you imagine a classroom that is light-proof, soundproofed and you can even take the students out of the classroom via internet because the classroom is internet connected, you can imagine how I am going to perform in such a classroom. Unlike here, you get multitude of students with no seats to sit, some of them hanging around the corridor of the classroom. You can imagine the quality of what such a teacher will deliver.

Would you say low self-esteem sometimes ruins the motivation and interest of an individual to venture into the teaching profession?

Sure. The perception of the society will bring about low self-esteem because it is the group that the society celebrates that you will want to belong to. The society doesn’t celebrate teachers, so you see that people are reluctant to pursue the teaching profession. My first admission was on education, I rejected that admission because I didn’t want to become a teacher, I was running after law or political science. But today, fate has directed me to be a teacher and I have taken it up and since then, I told myself that I want to be a better teacher. Willingly, it was not like that at the beginning which accounts for over 80 per cent of teachers you find in classrooms today at all levels even as lecturers. Some are still looking elsewhere to run to.

As a way of motivating teachers, the Lagos State government in April, rewarded teachers with cars, do you think this factor is enough to motivate individuals into the profession?

One of the things that we are doing now and the government has done, even at the federal level, is to improve on the professionalisation of the teaching profession. We are no more in the era where anybody who does not find an alternative, gets into the classroom. If you don’t have teaching qualification, you are not going to be employed. In our college, you must be a professional teacher before you get into our classroom which is being done now. In the last few months, I am beginning to see influx of students with teaching qualification unlike before, when you look at the statistics, you find out that the number of candidates who want to read education as first choice, was usually very low, but now, it is professionalised. It was okay for the Lagos State government to motivate teachers, but to motivate teachers and other workforce, there is a need for us to institutionalise an enduring social insurance scheme. If you get a job today, in the next few months, you should be able to walk to the bank and take car and housing loan which will be spread over the number of years you will spend in the service, so that in the long run, you would not need to struggle to build your own house. In a situation where a teacher will have to look for land to buy, look for the labourers, buy cement, get carpenters, etc, where does a teacher get such money? We want him motivated and be able to concentrate. In such a situation, we will continue to have people that are not so much committed to that profession. You will find people who say they are teachers, but still engaged in another trade because they want to make ends meet. My argument here, is that to motivate teachers for that matter and other workforce, let us have an enduring social insurance scheme to save the system. For now, teachers resort to cooperatives to be able to buy land and houses for themselves which is not supposed to be. In developed countries, their teachers live very well. If you are a worker, what the banks just need to see is a regular monthly payment which shows that you have a regular income. It is on the income that you can take all the loans you want which will be proportionate.

What are the challenges facing teacher education in the country?

The first challenge is basically inadequate budgetary allocation, lack of motivation for teachers, poor societal perception, lack of commitment among teachers themselves and attrition in the teaching programme in the universities and colleges of education. All colleges of education especially in the southwest area of Nigeria, are already drowning in the area of not getting students to study at the NCE level. So we had to send our admission committee to different places to canvass for admission. It is as bad as that. Part of the challenges also include: inadequate training in modern teaching methodology and use of technology for the teachers as well as inconsistent policies. like I said, policy making on the paper is not a problem, but the implementation. What is on the paper is fantastic, but do we find that on ground? Above all is the issue of corruption that in itself is a problem. Even the inadequate budgetary allocation is also being hunted by corrupt tendencies and implementators.

You are a teacher of Arabic Language, what is your view about what is currently happening in the country regarding ethnic and religious intolerance?

It is a complex matter and uncalled for. Intolerance in all ramifications naturally is uncalled for. People resort to sentiments when they cannot get what they feel they desire on the table. For instance, if we do not politicise our system so much, if I apply on merit, I can be given an appointment, then I don’t need to resort to anything. But in our part of the world, if you don’t belong to a particular group, religion or ethnicity, you cannot find your way, so this gives currency into people looking for sentiments to achieve their selfish aim. So if the issue of intolerance comes in, you will find out that the underlining current is that of the quest to want to achieve selfish end. So where you belong to determines what you get now. So the leadership of the country at different levels must take the bull by the horn and act according to the constitution. The issue of intolerance shouldn’t come in because we are all human beings.