By Elijah Udofia
It was Barack Obama, former president of the United States of America who said, ” if we are serious about building an economy that lasts, we have to get serious about education. We are going to have to pick up our game and raise our standard”.
It is incontrovertible that education is one of the keys to escaping poverty. It enables upward socio-economic mobility. Education frees one from despondency and provide access to unlimited possibilities. In governance, a country with large population of her citizens are easier to govern.
So much has been said or written about education in Nigeria in the past few years. While some believe that all is well with the sector, majority of Nigerians think otherwise. In years gone bye, the standard of of education was said to be very high that it attracted best brains from other part of the world. It was said that apart from foreign professors who were willing and ready to work in the country, foreign students were also eager to study in the nation’s higher institutions. This period, from independence to some early parts of the 1980s would be regarded as the golden era of education in education.
One of the states in Nigeria that regards education as an industry, is Ogun State. No wonder a report from www.statista.com, ranked Ogun as one of the states with the highest number of primary schools. Similarly, punchng.com also has it that the State ranked as one with the highest number of secondary schools in the country. From the statistics available, the State ranked as one of the most educated with the highest academic personalities on literature level set at 90.57 percent.
In terms of tertiary education, available data from the National Universities Commission (NUC), a federal government body saddle with the responsibility of regulating the activities in Nigerian universities, show that out of the total number of 219 made up of federal, states, and private universities in the country, 16 are domiciled in Ogun State.
The State in the last three and a half years, under the leadership of governor Dapo Abiodun, has made significant progress towards increasing access to education and this can be seen in the upward trend in enrollment rate at all levels.
For a governor who value education, having ,being the child of a teacher , has said at different fora that his administration would ensure that the State continue to keep its number one spot as the bastion of education in the country. It could be recalled that the governor, while taking the oath of office at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, on May 29, 2019, declared emergency in the education sector. The declaration has heralded various innovations and reforms that have helped in repositioning the sector for optimal performance.
To match his words with action, , his administration invested heavily in the sector and the huge investment is paying off with tremendous results. Just recently at this year’s Teacher’s Day celebration held in Abuja, the State won the overall winner- Best Public Primary School category for 2022 President’s Teachers and Schools Excellence Awards. The event which took place in Abuja, saw St. Michael’s African Church Primary School 1, Ota, adjudged the best Public Primary School with an 18 seater JAC bus as the star prize.
Also two teachers from the State, Mr. Owolabi Paul Adelana of Ijebu Muslim College (Jnr.), Ijebu-Ode won the second best teacher in the Public Schools category, his counterpart from City of Knowledge Academy, Odogbolu, Mr. Tajudeen Ajayi Ayantola won award of the best private school teacher in the country.
Similarly, governor Abiodun who joined teachers to celebrate their Day in Abeokuta, also rewarded teachers, school administrators and schools that have excelled in academics with houses and cash gifts.
Tajudeen Odufeso from Isara Secondary School, Isara- Remo, was given a two bedroom bungalow as the Best Teacher in Public Senior Secondary Schools, while Adelana Owolabi and Orebanjo Olusesan from Ijebu Muslim College (Junior) and Early Education Centre, Ijebu-Igbo, got N2m and N1.5m for emerging Best Teachers in Public Junior Secondary Schools and Public Primary Schools, respectively.
For Mr Fagbamila Olatunbosun Okeneye from Omo Edumare Model Nursery and Primary School, Ago-Iwoye, is hard work paid off handsomely as he carted home a sum of N1m as the Best Administrator in the Public Primary Schools category.
In the school category, Remo Divisional High School (Senior), Sagamu and St. Michael’s African Church School 1, Ota, won Best Public Secondary School (Senior) and Best Public Primary School, respectively.
Giving credence to the efforts of the government which led to the Award, Prince Isiyemi Adeniji, Head Teacher, St. Micheal Anglican Church primary school 1, Ota, said “what excels us from other schools in the state and the country is what this present administration has been doing in the school. I want to appreciate our amiable governor for all that he has been doing which gave us this opportunity. when the Federal Ministry of Education came, we made them to know that the school is well located, it has structures like a mini stadium and we facilities like library, computer laboratory, science laboratory, skill acquisition room and other things”.
Speaking in a similar vein, one of the awardees, Mr. Adelana Owolabi Paul, second best teacher, in public primary school category, a Basic Science Teacher from Ijebu Moslem College, Ijebu-Ode, noted “the Learner’s Identification Number is a very good idea, infact, it is such a good idea to the extent that having that ability to track a learner, know where a learner is in the education system of a state, it is a very great idea.
“The Ogun State Government is trying, but I can always tell you that we cannot rest on our oars, for example,this OGSERA, I heard that some other states are trying to come here to learn from us, it is a very good initiative.
“Tajudeen Ajayi Ayantola, a Technical Drawing/ Basic Technology teacher from the City of Knowledge Academy, Ijebu-Ode, second runner-up of private secondary school teacher in Nigeria, posited, “when we look at the educational system in terms of value, the Governor has done a wonderful job.
“I am the registrar of my school, I do register them for the Junior Secondary School Examination (BECE) and upload the student into the OGSERA, which is working perfectly.
“In the past,we work with our biro, we run from Abeokuta to Ijebu-Ode, we can even travel twice in a day, but with the introduction of OGSERA, it is very easy for us now and with the unique code given to us, I was able to do it without any stress, fetching the result or promoting the student, all other things that you need to know about the parent identification, teacher identification about the number of students in the school is seamless. You don’t need to run Helter skelter, I think Ogun State is taking the lead in terms of educational system and that is as a result of the good work of the Governor and his team.
A cursory look at the education sector, year-in, year revealed that students from the State kept on winning numerous awards at different education competitions. For example, students from Ogun State came first in almost all the categories, and took the Overall 1st Position in one of the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) competitions held at Lagos State. The Ogun Young Laureates have continued to gain more recognition while several laurels are being won. All these accomplishments could be attributed to well though out policies as encapsulated in the ISEYA mantra.
As stated earlier, the winning of laurels both at national and international academic competitions would not have been possible without the giant strides taken by the administration to ensure that education sector takes its rightful place in the scheme of things.
There is no doubting the fact that the massive renovation and reconstruction works in schools across the 236 wards of the State, the upgrading of 42 flagship schools for better performance, as well as the commencement of Ogun Digitalized Multimedia Lesson Plan where the teachers would be equipped with the wherewithal resources for effective delivery, as done a whole lot of good to education in the state.
Further more, the introduction of Pre-Shaded Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) objective answer sheet for the conduct of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), 50% increase in feeding allowance for learners in Special Needs Schools, full sponsorship of public school students to all academic competitions and scholarships for outstanding students in all tertiary institutions in the country, as gone a long way in repositioning the sector.
It is imperative to note that the establishment of Ogun State Education Intervention Fund (OGSEIF) to achieve improved funding and the repositioning and construction of Central Education Management Information System (EMIS) for data gathering, analysis and presentation, the commencement of Ogun Digitalized Multimedia Lesson Plan, where the teachers would be equipped with the wherewithal resources for effective delivery, have all contributed to the sterling performance of Ogun State students in academic exercises.
Like Joyce Meyer, the popular American television Evangelist and Author said, “teachers can change lives with the right mix of chalk and challenges. Prince Abiodun also see teachers as career moulders, mentors and national builders who sacrifice their all to produce diverse professionals for the nation.
To the Governor, “these peculiar people deserve to be celebrated. In fact, we should celebrate them every day and not just for one day that the global body has set aside like today. Let me on behalf of all of us – the government and the entire people of Ogun State – join all men and women of goodwill all over the world to thank very heartily and congratulate very warmly our teachers on the celebration of yet another Teachers’ Day.
He is of the opinion that education is the bedrock of any meaningful socio-political and economic development and a foundation for scientific, technological enrichment and the advancement of any society. According to him, no Nation can become great without the positive contributions of her teacher, stressing that “the future of any Nation is usually determined by the quality of its education system and how it treats teachers.
Governor Abiodun affirmed that Ogun State is the Education capital of Nigeria and this would not have been achieved without the contributions of the teachers who are simply the best one can find around the country, appreciating them for their dedication to duties and being at the forefront of achieving his administration’s agenda in the education sector.
Called the “the gateway State”, Ogun is not only the industrial hub which is investor’s destination of choice, it is also the religious capital and of course, the education capital of the country.
To Ogun State people, winning according to Vince Lombardi, an American football coach “is not a sometimes thing; it is an all the time thing. You don’t win in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit”.
Ogun State is sure reaping good dividends for its investment in education sector as seen in the latest Awards. Hollywood actor, Denzel Washington said, ” man gives award, but God gives rewards”. The rewards for the State I believe, will be in the future when the students will graduate from the State’s institutions and become leaders in their chosen endeavours.
- Mr. Udofia writes from Laderin, Abeokuta.