Brilliance and Patience

Anthony Kila in this piece faults the recent decision by Education Minister, Prof Tahir Mamman to peg school age of nation’s secondary school children at 18 saying such unpopular decision is bound to retard the educational progress of the vibrant youths.

Dear Professor Tahir Mamman,

Thanks to your recent position and consequent policy around our children’s education age, you have earned our attention and today’s epistle. From what we read in the media, it appears that you are keen to stop young students who can do so from getting into tertiary education before the age of 18. This decision could significantly impact the future of our youth. It would seem that when you find yourself in a yellow wood where two roads diverge, with one leading to brilliance and the other to patience, and you, sorry you could not travel both, you choose patience to paraphrase a poet we both know.

Right or wrong, your personal position would not have mattered if you were just a lawyer or an academic, as you are indeed; the problem, my dear Prof. Mamman, is that you are also the Minister of Education. This means that you have the unique power to directly shape and influence what happens to us as a country because you have access to shaping and influencing our most valuable assets: our children.

That is a position of unparalleled influence, and though most people do not see it directly because they are too engrossed in the battles of today, the fact is that as Minister of Education, you are in an unparalleled place to be remembered as the architect or at least an architect of our future. Luckily, as a minister, you can decide what kind of architect you want to be by your choice; you don’t have to wait to be made by history; you can make history.

Dear Hon. Minister, I am sad to report that it is so bad so far. Sadly, you have taken the wrong turn in history, and by your choice, rather than uplifting, you seem to be moving towards suppressing. Your current stance is a cause for deep disappointment and concern. There is no doubt in my mind that this was not your intention (unless you are driven by some sinister motive, which I doubt), and even now, you probably think you are doing the right thing.

However, let me break it down for you in very simple and unambiguous terms and say you are wrong. You are wrong in terms of priority, process, practice and principle. It is astonishing that those around you (advisers, associates, friends, and family) allowed you to develop and make such a position public.

Just consider this: You are a Minister of Education in a country with a population of about 200 million people and approximately 18 million children out of school, and that makes it one of the countries with the highest numbers of out-of-school in the world. It is worth noting that about 60% of these out-of-school children, more than 10 million, are girls. These bad figures become even sadder when we consider the physical and social nexus with ongoing insecurity, particularly in the northern regions.

In this same country where you are Minister, too many spaces called schools are dilapidated and lack the most essential items that make for a school in this century.

The teachers and other staff are mostly ill-trained, scarcely appreciated in society, unhappy, underpaid, under-motivated and technically overworked.

What a different kind of epistle you would have received today if you had announced that as a Minister, your interests are to reduce the number of school children, improve school facilities, retrain and find ways to motivate and reward good teachers. Imagine the reviews you would be getting. Instead, you chose the path of delaying those who are brilliant or eager.

The very important element of substance aside, the process that led you to this choice and policy is somewhat worrisome. There is a simple test that any policy maker, be it in the private or public sector, and their policy that wants to change how things are done must pass: identification of a problem that requires intervention. In the public sector, most people must share the view that such issues need addressing. In your case, not only did you not identify the problem, but you did not even bother to inform, let alone convince the public of the problem you want to solve.

The process that informs and convinces not only allows stakeholders to see the cost of a new policy and the consequence of not implementing it, but it also shows all the benefits and the advantages of the new policy. In your case of asking the brilliant and the ambitious to be patient, we see no advantage in waiting, and there is no risk of not waiting.

Some have pointed out that the policy of asking the brilliant and ambitious to wait in line patiently is not something you initiated but inherited and that you are just implementing. Such a defence does you a significant disservice rather than help your case. Saying you are just implementing something you have no input in conceiving makes you appear like a zombie without personal ideas and the ability to evolve. Regardless of the reasons that led to a policy that all your predecessors have left in the drawers and parents as well as professional practising educators have ignored, facts show that the trend in our times is that people are emerging at younger ages in various aspects of life. Look at the average age of leading protagonists in the arts and entertainment, business and sports and yes, in the academia.

Dear Hon. Minister, I have a piece of simple and readily verifiable information regarding the entry age, academic performance, and exit age of students for you: Data across the board shows that students who have the best results in their school leaving exams and university entrance are mostly the youngest and that those who emerge with first class in the bachelors and distinction in their postgraduates are also the youngest.

A quick chat with practising teachers in schools and lecturers in tertiary institutions would have revealed this to you. I suspect you did not bother to check with them. If you have consulted with some and they have told you the contrary, please name those educators you consulted that have recommended or endorsed this your path of penalising the brilliant and relegating them to dull patience.

This country and the world need a system of recognition and reward for brilliant minds that can solve problems and inspire the rest, not a system that holds down the brilliant and the ambitious so they can move at the pace of the average; please don’t be a clog.

Please join us on Twitter, @anthonykila, to continue these crucial conversations.

-Kila is an Institute Director at CIAPS Lagos. www.ciaps.org.