The more educated a woman is, the more humble she should be —Omotayo, Associate Professor

Dr (Mrs) Kehinde Omotayo is an associate professor at the Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ekiti State. In this interview by TAYO GESINDE, she speaks on her experience working as a teacher at all levels of education in Nigeria and the need for parents to teach their children good values and virtues.

What was growing up like for you?

Growing up was interesting. In Nigeria, if your parents are educated, you too must go to school. So, I went to primary, secondary and tertiary education. Since I was in primary school, I learnt a Yoruba poem that said “Eko kiko hun so ni doga, mura ki o kooo daradara,bi o si ri  opo eniyan ti won fi eko se erin rin, sora ki o maa fara we won. Iya nbo fun omo ti ko gbon, ekun be fun omo ti n sa kiri. Ma f’owuro sere ore mi, mura si ise, ojo nlo”. I was greatly encouraged by that poem that I learnt in primary school. It inspired me so much that I should not play with my academics  I did my National Certificate of Education, Bachelor Degree in Biology Education, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education As well as for my PhD.

What informed your choice of career?

Every child wanted to be a doctor. In my primary school; I remember that I wanted to be a doctor too. Thank God that today I am one. I may not be a medical doctor but an academic doctor. I am working towards becoming more than that in the nearest future as one must aspire to become greater in life. Though Initially, I didn’t want to become a teacher, today, I am happy that I am a trained teacher and it seems there is no other thing I would have been able to do more perfectly than teaching. In fact, I am proud to be a teacher. Incidentally, I have worked at every level of education in Nigeria. I worked in primary school, secondary school, college of education and now in the university. By the grace of God, I am at present an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction of Science Education and hopefully, I will become a professor of Education very soon so I am an accomplished teacher. Whatever your hands find to do, do it well and excel in it.

You have taught at all levels of education. Which one did you find to be the most interesting?

I have found all of them to be interesting. What has really helped me even in the present place where I am in, that is the university, are the experiences I have had in the past, even the ones I had in primary school. The experiences still come to play today and I find them as good examples when I am talking in class. Even with my PhD students. In fact, whenever I am telling them about my experiences in the primary school, they find it to be very useful so I am happy that I had gone through all those experiences.

What were the challenges you faced?

It was in the course of growing up academically that I started my family. It was not an easy feat. I was going to school and raising my family at the same time. Thank God for my husband’s cooperation. For any woman who wants to combine the home front with her career needs her husband’s cooperation. I was teaching, going to school and raising my family. When I am in school, I am a class teacher, when I am at home, I close my books, do all the house chores, be a wife and a mother. Serve everybody food and do all the necessary things that need to be done. It was when I had settled everyone that I would take my book and read. It was tedious but God saw me through. It was the grace of God that sustained me.

What is your memorable experience on the job?

Well, I think the experience I had when I was at the College of Education and the one I am having now. What I do is to train teachers. My interest is for the teachers I am training to go out there and do it well. As much as possible, I make effort to ensure that they do it perfectly, more perfectly than I did it in when I was teaching lower classes. If you give me the opportunity to go to the primary school today to teach, I will do it more creatively.

In the course of trying to get them to do it perfectly, won’t some of your students see you as a strict lecturer?

Let me say this, in the university, we have people who are not trained, teachers.  So we have lecturers and we have lecturers. Students always know their teachers. They know who is a teacher and who is not. I think God gave me the grace to re the ate well with my students. An ideal teacher will be on the side of the students. Let me share an experience I had when I was teaching at a College of Education in the North, some students who failed my course reported me to some administrators that I didn’t give good marks but it was one of the students who said that whatever that woman gave you is what you scored. I was not there but later, I was told what happened. So, what I am trying to bring out is that if you are a trained teacher, you must be objective in assessing your students because you are also looking for a feedback to know if you have been able to impart knowledge into them. So, if you mark them down, what are you saying? If on the other hands you are too generous with your marks you are not helping them.

Who do you think should be blamed for the decline in the standard of education in Nigeria?

My question is: Are you sure it is declining? The decline is relative. If you look at it from another angle, children of today know much more than I did when I was in primary school. Is that a decline? The other side, where we have a graduate who cannot speak or write good English is because they had faulty foundation in primary and secondary schools. Then their parents pay people to do JAMB for them or buy questions for them. What magic can lecturers do for somebody who is not qualified to be in the university in the first place? Those children who were properly trained at primary and secondary levels  make it, not all graduates are bad. I must also say that, it is the entire system that should be overhaul. The quality of the teachers and learners are very important in educational development. The government must take matters of education seriously. When lecturers are on strike for months or a year and government don’t care about it, it is part of it. There are so many things to be blamed. Every stakeholder must do what is right to get things back on track.

What do you think parents can do to ensure that their children have sound moral training?

Parents are the first teachers of their children. Children learn directly and indirectly from their parents. If a father is a bully and a cheat, the son will pick up some of those traits from his father. Also, if the mother is a snob, disrespectful and lousy, the children too cannot but be lousy when they go out there. As parents, we should teach our children good values and virtues. So that when your child is going out, you can say to him, remember the son of whom you are. If parents can tell their children don’t go out and misrepresent me, it means they must have taught them some values. A child that is well brought up will not misbehave outside. Rather, he will be a role model to his peers. I think the white man is not wrong when he said charity begins at home. Although, both parents have to work now to make ends meet, they still need to spend quality time with their children. It is even dangerous to leave one’s children in the custody of house helps. Children in their formative years must be close to their parents.  I don’t subscribe to parents putting a two year- old in boarding school, that is too early. If children must go to school because the parents have to work, as soon as they close in school, one of the parents must be available to take care of them. It is very important. It will go a long way to shape their lives than for them to pick up junks from outside which are detrimental to their growth.

How can career women successful combine the home front with their career?

They should know that their home is their priority so whatever their profession, their home is number one, after all, that is what our religious inclination says. When we get to heaven, God will not ask us how many degrees we have, He will ask us, “the children I gave to you as gift, how did you raise them?’’ The Bible says the whole duty of man is to fear God and obey His commandments. That is what we have come here to do; every other thing is to improve ourselves.  I feel the more educated a woman is, the more humble she should be. That is my policy. The more humble you should be to take care of everyone around you because at that time, you are getting to the apex where everybody can see you. So, when you misbehave, everybody will see that you have misbehaved so, one must be conscious of that.  As career woman, you should not want to be indicted. Even the Bible says that “Let your good not is evil spoken of.” I know it is tedious to combine the two but with God on one’s side, it is possible. All you need to do is to be disciplined and focused. Some women are lazy, that is a fact we must tell ourselves. They want everything to be done for them. You have to be ready to do some things on your own. I think career women excel more because they are able to fix their children properly. Some will pick their children from school and bring them to their office. I say God will help them. I know it was a bit easier when we were raising children but God will always make a way out for them. They should always look out for healthy solutions to their challenges.