“Before the day in question, they had performed wonders in their examination. And even before the examination, they all unanimously took a decision to fast for seven days, which they completed with prayers. God Almighty answered their prayers because all the 35 students passed their West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). Besides, none of these students failed in Mathematics.
“In fact, they all got A1. The most incredible of this is that one them that did Further Mathematics also passed with A1. They all passed their Physics, Biology and Chemistry with Credit. On the day in question, they performed wonders in cultural display, science, and deep Islamic lectures.
“With regard to science, they performed an experiment that really went above my imagination. They were able to produce electricity and, in fact, light out of wired electrode, and we noticed electrical light patently coming out of the wired lemon seeds, which were about 20.
“On culture, two of them came out to give a wonderful performance on ewi which was done to the acclamation of all the guests in the hall. Before the programme even started, one of them continued to recite from the Holy Quran virtually endlessly. He had memorised virtually a large part of the Holy Quran.
“In conclusion, one of the parents who showered gifts on the students testified that his daughter that attended IMA International Model College was given a scholarship, and she is now doing excellently well at Crescent University.”
- Being the proprietor’s comments during the award/prize giving ceremony.
His name is Mr Opeyemi Jimoh, a holder of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, and the University of Ibadan.
He is an unassuming egghead charged with the teaching of Mathematics at IMA International Model College, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Winner of several awards, Mr Jimoh fell deeply in love with teaching of Mathematics and Further Mathematics, which many students dread like plaque owing to their abstract and ‘problematic’ nature.
The management and other stakeholders of IMA International Model College recently applauded the superlative performance of their graduates in the 2018 West African Examinations Council’s Senior School Certificate Examination.
The vice chancellor, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Professor Ibraheem Gbajabiamila, during his remarks at the award and prize-giving ceremony, said the graduates of IMA International Model College were some of the lucky ones to have had access to quality education provided by the management of the school.
He noted that the success stories recorded by Crescent University today would have been impossible without the parent body, the Islamic Mission for Africa, “a parent body which gave birth to this College and Crescent University, Abeokuta.”
Gbajabiamila charged the graduates and the current students of the college to crown their excellence by joining the Crescent University.
The college had recorded 100 per cent success twice in the SSCE in the past. However, the uniqueness of this year’s result is the near impossible feat of A1 parallel recorded by products of the school in Mathematics in 2018.
“According to Mr Jimoh, in an interview, Mathematics is not a difficult subject; it is the methodology of many teachers and delivery that pose problems.”
He emphasised that the fear appeal by many Mathematics teachers make students dread the subject which causes the victims to later in their lives have career switch from Mathematics-related subjects.
“A Mathematics teacher, in his estimation, should cultivate his or her students to be their friends.”
He added that he would always ensure that “certain topics like Statistics, Trigonometry, Quadratic graphs, Trigonometric graphs, Longitude and Latitude which come out every year in WASSCE are always treated in details.
“These topics need to be dealt with more seriously than the others,” he observed.
Mr Jimoh believes that since Mathematics topics are usually linked, previous knowledge of students in previous topics and previous year should be assessed by the teacher in charge who must go “extra, extra mile” to tutor the students.
He also said, “The teacher must also be very patient in handling the subject,” while an effective teacher should go as far as explaining Mathematics in indigenous language because, according to him, “the subject is abstract.”
On his advice to Mathematics teachers generally, he noted that “they should be lenient with their students while taking the subjects…some teachers make the subject hard or harder than it seems.
“Mathematics deals with steps, and that is what WAEC marks. You may even get the final answer wrong and still get like 9/10 in a particular question. So, it has to go with steps. I have been involved in WASSCE coordination. I know the rules and this has helped.”
Mr Jimoh also emphasised the importance of giving a lot of assignments and entertaining a lot of questions from students even beyond the regular periods of the subject.
This, according to him, is because one or two periods of regular class are not enough to groom students to the desired standard.
He also agreed to a large extent that most failure in the subject is attributed to psychological reason regarding teacher-student relationship, “so that the flow of the knowledge will be okay.”
There is no doubting the fact that Mr Opeyemi Jimoh is an exemplary model of how an ideal Mathematics teacher should be – proactive, patient, painstaking, friendly and methodical. The world needs more of this genius to develop the fledging minds.
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