'Abia - Umuahia, Abamola - Yola...'

A JSS1 class. Behind it is another. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is all for demarcation. BTW, because we have insufficient chairs, you'll almost always find two people sharing one of these chairs.

BEFORE
The other day, I went to get my hair plaited at Mary's mom's salon just a few blocks from mine. Luckily for me, Mary and Barakat were present to keep me entertained throughout the couple of hours I spent there. 

Something happened in that time: 7-year old Mary started reciting her 'states and capitals', something the JS3 students at my school can't successfully do. It was so coincidental because earlier that day I had called a few of these JS3 students to the staff room and asked them questions about countries and continents and states and capitals. They all agree on 'Abia-Umuahia'. The problem starts however from what comes after. One said, "Abamola-Yola" (Abamola quickly translated in my head to 'We met Mallam', lol) and I responded half-jokingly, half-angrily saying, "Nibo?" (to say, 'Where did you meet the mola?')

Okay, Okay, Mary is a primary 3 student at a private school and my JS3 students are from a public school. I considered this huge gap of knowledge between Mary and the JS3 students and in that moment, I made the decision to visit a private school and attend one of their classes just to see where public schools are getting it wrong. Maybe there's some sort of 'agbo' the private school students drink that makes them more book-smart. You find that the brighter students at my school are the ones who have at one time or another been enrolled in a private school. 

There are obviously huge differences between both school structures that have contributed and will continue to contribute to this gap (for example, the public school structure's disorganisation, the strikes, the lack of strictness and things like that alone can place public schools behind private schools by a number of years so much so that primary 3 students would be ahead of JS3 students). And let's not forget the obvious fact that private schools are more expensive than public schools. So, maybe I can't bridge this gap but I would still to like to go see what lessons we can learn from them. You know, see the things they are doing differently, with regards the method of teaching, that I can possibly incorporate into my own teaching style. 

AFTER
I wrote the above weeks before I paid a visit two weeks ago to a nearby private school, Alma Rohm Group of Schools. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the difference in 'board system'. Here, they use white boards and markers while we at Anwar-ul Islam School still use chalks and blackboards. Myself and the students spoke in English. Turns out the only time they are allowed to speak Yoruba is in Yoruba class. Go figure! Looks like it's paying off because in this class of 19, only one student had some problems properly expressing himself in English.

By the way, the students' uniforms were clean and there was enough space in the classroom for walking as each student had a table and a chair to him/herself. My JSS1 students are 70 in a stuffy class. Good luck trying to walk in between them.

Remember I wrote sometime ago that we would be starting after-school lessons at our school? Yeah, that didn't happen. Here at Alma Rohm, school closes at 2PM, after which lessons hold from 2-3.30PM.

The students at this school dream. I asked them what their dream jobs were and about 4 people said 'I want to be an aeronautic engineer'. I asked them which universities they had been looking at for the course. One said Ghana, another said England. We had three people who expressed interest in journalism. One of which wanted to go to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The students at my school dream but I don't think many of them attach any serious plans of pursuit to the dream. 

What I found most interesting was that none of the Alma Rohm students I spoke with expressed interest in Bowen University, a pretty reputable university that just happens to be situated in the town of Iwo lol. I asked why, and they explained that having spent their entire lives in Iwo, they would like to live outside the town for a change. I don't even think university is in the cards for most of the students at my school. Which sadly isn't their fault.

From the Alma Rohm students' choice of course of study to university, I wondered whether the reason these students could have dreams this big and mine can't is because they can afford to; as in they have options. Knowing that you have parents who can afford to send you to Ghana for university can allow your imagination go that far. So, I guess money counts as a factor. I also considered the private school environment as a factor. Being surrounded by intelligent people who look smart and neat makes one strive to be like that also. A positive environment rubs off on you positively, but a negative one will most likely leae you the same or worsen things. Maybe also the exposure of the people they live with? Having parents and siblings one can look up to? The OAU girl says her dad talks about OAU being the best university in Nigeria (I smiled at this and then rolled my eyes. OAU and University of Ibadan (UI) alumni will never quit). A dad who went through university might more than likely make his child see the importance of education. I don't know. Thoughts are needed. Why do private school students turn out better than public school students in most cases? And is there anything that can be done by teachers to correct it?

PS: I'm constantly learning something new from and about my students.
They can be such a delight when they are not being naughty and as the end of my service draws near, I'm starting to realise how much of an impact they've had on me. I'm starting to focus more on making these last days count.

And yeah, it's a town, not a village! :P

We're back!…and we're leaving again

Written: 02/10/13

"Aunty! Aunty"

"Oya, lo gba bag won", whispered one to the other. 

"Ma worry", I said to her, as I saw her making her way towards me. "Ye! O wo le!", one of her friends present yelled, covering one eye, as we'd do to mean 'ela oju kan' or 'ela' for short. This they do whenever I refuse to indulge kind gestures such as this one.

Yup, I'm definitely back at Anwar-ul Islam. As I stepped on school soil, the first thing I noticed was that the grasses had grown really bushy. It was clear that we had been away for too long and the environment had been starved of naughty students (since we are surrounded by mass grass coverage, you can imagine that cutting grass/mowing the lawn is a popular punishment for the kids who misbehave).

As I moved closer to the staffroom, I met other students on the way who prostrated themselves with excitement to 'hail' me, to which I responded with a smile. "I have missed these children!", I thought to myself. 

The teachers in the staffroom welcomed me with news about a relocation. Our holiday had lasted so long because Governor Aregbe had been working on merging schools. For us, Anwar-ul Islam would join Islahudeen High School. the latter would be our school for the next school year. This surprised me because when we were first posted here, we had cause to believe that Anwar-ul would be our permanent Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) for the service year. The teachers, however, didn't seem bothered. I guess as a public school teacher, you learn not to get too comfortable anywhere as change is constant and transfers can happen anytime.

We were also told that school time for junior schools would change from 2pm to 3.30pm, and from 2pm to 5pm for the seniors, as afternoon prep would be introduced into the public school system. 

My initial reaction was to grumble but after being enlightened on the intention behind the adjustments, I embraced the idea. I wrote in my 'Last day of school' post about revision being a big problem of the students', so to have heard that they would be getting some supervised after-school prep time was good news.

More time in school would mean less time for their after-school hustle which though it keeps their hands and minds busy, usually doesn't give them time for revision. (Though I won't entirely blame this on their after-school jobs because if they cared about school as much as they did their jobs, then they would squeeze out time to revise). This change in times could go either way but I'm hoping the fact that there'll be supervision will make it an effective 1hr30mins/3hours.

Mrs B., one of the teachers present in the staffroom at the time I received the news, said, "Aregbe knows what he's doing. It's just that we lack structure". I'm pleased that we are taking a step in this direction. Since being here and having a better understanding of how the public school system works, I've felt that our schools could use more attention from the government. After all, public schools are the government's property. What I mean is, more can be done to excite these kids about school and make the environment more conducive to learning. I had expected the worst before I got here and was surprised upon my arrival, to discover that we had sufficient textbooks and stationery and even hold mid-week quizzes for the students. 

Furnished buildings, a better structured timetable (that includes educative games, more sports and visual learning; the other day, I supervised a P.H.E. exam where they were asked to draw a handball court. I smiled because I knew they didn't know what one looked like. They could only draw it not as something they were familiar with or had ever seen, but as something they had been shown in their textbooks in class), more (well-educated) teachers, electricity (there are no bulbs or fans or even a connection to light for us to know when there IS light), doors, school buses (with this new merging system, students are having to spend more on transportation) and the likes could really make a difference.

My father speaks well of the public school structure that existed back in his time and how it was so well organised that private schools weren't even popular because everyone preferred public schools. How nice would it be to have some of that excitement revived? 

Any ideas on what else I can do in my remaining four months here to motivate/help these kids? Bear in mind though, that we are dealing with unmotivated and lazy people so your idea has to be super great and continuous even after my time here is up. I was and still am very enthusiastic about bringing change here. The after-school lesson plan I came up with last term eventually failed 'cause the students lost interest. 

Anyway, glad to be back. Two months is too long for a holiday!

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P

"The day a woman becomes president in this country, I'm leaving"

A couple of female inspectors stopped over at our school today. I guess they came from the Ministry of Education or something like that. They made themselves out to be pretty important, anyway. From lesson notes to attendance books, these women requested for all our records from the term. Prior to this experience, I don't think I had ever seen such a nervous group of adults together in one room, in my life. The atmosphere was so tense and awkward for me as I watched the principal and teachers get heck for the mistakes and mess-ups they had made on their records. I hate seeing people uncomfortable, much less, older people. 

Also, you'd think being "ordinary corpers", as they put it, would have meant that we would be given special treatment. You know, maybe they'd go easier on us since we aren't permanent teachers; but that wasn't the case. We were treated no differently. In fact, I was threatened with a query, while another one of us corpers had his lesson note seized and was asked to travel down to their office to reclaim it.

Anyway, after they left and we went back to our staff room, a conversation about 'women in power' ensued. Someone asked, "why do women abuse power?". Another added, "the day a woman becomes president in this country, I'm leaving."

Being the only female of all five corpers, you can imagine how difficult it would have been to win an argument. So, I didn't bother starting one. Not because I couldn't but because I can't defend what I don't oppose. I am all for "girl power" but I had/have to agree with these guys on this one. It is something I had noticed in the past, and for once, in that moment, I think I figured it out. Considering women historically and even biologically, women were never "the head" or placed at the forefront of things. Then things changed and the idea of women being made prime ministers or managing directors was no longer so far-fetched. Now that we've been given the power and freedom we had always lacked, I think we feel the need to prove our capability by doing all we can to assert our power. However, the problem in our country is that several have abused this power. Another one of the guys put it well by saying, "there's discipline and then there's disrespect. You can't be yelling at people older than you or at corpers, as if they were kids". It seems that in this country, we believe that to ensure discipline, disrespect must be enlisted; forgetting that discipline and disrespect are completely unrelated.

My question is this: Can we entirely blame the women? Can't we all relate to that need to over-compensate after being long oppressed? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that what these women in power are trying to achieve through their strictness?

Thoughts?

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P

Image source: Google

"Daydream. I fell asleep beneath the flowers for a couple of hours..."

It was 2PM; which means only one thing at Anwar-Ul-Islam school: Closing time. The rain was so heavy this day, however, that I decided to wait a while in the staff room 'til it stopped. So, there I sat in my chair, doing one of my favourite things: getting lost in thoughts. As I thought about several things from memories to possibilities, I ended up thinking about thinking. Sounds weird? Check this:

I think that one of life's most beautiful gifts is the ability to think, daydream, imagine, call it whatever. I find that getting lost in thoughts sometimes puts me at my happiest. I enjoy that ability to reminisce on what has been-what we know as memories-, and the ability to consider what could be. What makes thinking so beautiful is the endless possibilities of how far the mind can go. I dare say that everyone enjoys fantasies, even realists. We know that those far-fetched imaginations might never actually materialize but oh, how beautiful it is to stretch one's mind so far!

Why I call it a gift is its mysterious factor. Thinking is OUR own thing. The fact that no one else can know what you're thinking, well, unless you tell them, makes it special. In a world where everyone is constantly trying to stick their nose in the next person's business, it's nice to have this one thing to hold on to. 

My happiest place goes beyond the seen. My happiest place is within. Alone, with my thoughts.

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P

Image source: Google