Dr Kazeem Akande is an educationist and the Chief Executive Officer of Easy-Prevarsity Education Services, focused on youth development and the education sector of the country. In this interview by Rukiyat Ogunwade, he speaks about his vision for youths and the need to introduce new education policy in Nigeria, among other issues. Excerpts:
How do you view education in Nigeria, especially at the Senior Secondary School level, degrading or improving?
I would say it is not degrading because the development of education and ensuring that every child has access to good and quality education is a major concern for the government at all levels in Nigeria. The government has explored several solutions to improve the quality of education, most especially, to ensure that students at senior secondary school levels excel at internal and external examinations. Therefore, education in Nigeria is improving but has not attained its climax.
What do you think could be done to have the right hands on deck?
The process of selection should be seamless to spur the interest of retired teachers in this
initiative. A record should be obtained from the ministry and crosschecked with that of the teachers association to determine teachers who are eligible for this initiative (i.e., teachers who taught English and Mathematics before retirement). Interested teachers will then have to undergo medical examination for them to keep fit.
Are they to work for long period of time or seven hours per day as the regular teachers?
Not at all, teachers who pass must be willing to set aside four hours weekly or more to teach their subjects in senior secondary schools in their vicinity.
So, how will this help?
Going back memory lane, the educational policy introduced by Obafemi Awolowo in1956 called Universal Primary Education (UPE) including the one Olusegun Obasanjo re-introduced in 1999 has Universal Basic Education (UBE) really assisted a lots of people to be educated right from timeimmemorial really helped Nigeria and Nigerians as a whole. So, if need be other educational policy would be looked into to make students have interest in core subjects at the senior secondary level. I believe that there are experienced teachers who have retired and would take teaching more seriously in order to enhance the three domains (cognitive, affective and psycho-motor) in education not saying that those still in service are not good but the existence of the older ones for extra moral classes will be helpful. Bringing these teachers back into the system can introduce students to a new learning pattern that could help them understand these subjects better. This will also help us monitor performance and predict what to expect in external examinations.
Can you tell us a little about some of your organisations?
As an individual, I am passionate about championing peace, supporting education and empowering youths. The organisations I have founded and belong to are built around this vision. The vision is to continue to foster international and communal peace, while understanding that education is a right and everyone must be given the opportunity to acquire quality education. In addition, the youths including me face a very difficult situation in Nigeria right now with high level of unemployment and other challenges, hence, it is important to support and empower them to ensure their youthful days are not wasted.
You have just concluded a short term course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Jos , what can you tell us about the course and of what usefulness will it be?
Yes, it is an eye opener for me to acquire more knowledge in policy and strategic studies. NIPSS is the foremost training institute for existing and potential leaders in Nigeria for different facets of Nigeria as whole leaders in different sectors. I believe this will equip me to lead my organisation in a better manner. In addition, to the training I have received, there will be need to re-evaluate and adjust some of our operations and activities to ensure that our goals as an organisation are achieved. I also hope to better implement some of our plans and better collaborate with our partners, most especially with our strategic partners now and in the future.
How do you fit into this training?
(Laughs) Well, I have sponsored and championed humanitarian activities for some years. And to be honest, several other wonderful Nigerians are doing the same. However, I have noticed that our solutions to end poverty, support education, and empower the youths are only temporary solutions.
There is need to tackle the Nigerian situation from a holistic approach which means understanding the policy and strategies employed by government to tackle this situation and finding gaps that exists in this policy. This is why I decided to attend the institute to learn more about policy, strategy, and leadership. As you would imagine, this training has exposed me to policy making, strategy formulation, and leadership.
Do you mean you would like to collaborate with the government in future both at local and state levels?
Yes, although in the past, we have collaborated with the Commissioner for Youths and Special Adviser to the Governor in Oyo State on Education. This time, we plan to take our collaboration to the next level. First, I will be willing to share my knowledge on policy, strategy, and leadership with local government officials and departments that are interested. This is to help them better understand some policies that govern education and other sectors in the state and country at large. In addition, during my learning at the institute, I came up with an educational policy on education that could help us tackle issues surrounding students failing core subjects in internal and external examinations.
What is the education policy all about?
The policy is all about the re-introduction of retired teachers to teach core subjects at senior secondary school level. This I believe will add to the myriad of solutions that has been employed to tackle failure of mathematics and English language in SSCE and other external examinations.
How feasible do you think this policy is?
Retired teachers are an embodiment of knowledge, and they could prove useful in improving our education system if properly engaged and reintroduced into the system. This strategy has been utilised by several developed countries and has yielded positive results in improving literacy among students from low-income families and even enhance the health of some retirees according to some academic research. The potency of this approach could be witnessed in some developed countries. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation Experience Corps is an intergenerational, volunteer-based tutoring program that engages adults aged 50 and older as literacy tutors for struggling students in public schools in the USA. The program empowers its volunteers to serve in their community and disrupt the cycle of poverty by making a lasting difference in the lives of Americans most vulnerable children (Rebok et al, 2019).
The Retired Teachers Returners Scheme is another wonderful similar initiative that has improved the face of education in the UK. Some regions in the UK have implemented programs that encourage retired teachers to return to the classroom on a part-time or temporary basis. These teachers can offer support in subjects facing shortages or work as mentors to new teachers. The scheme also accommodates those who have left teaching for several other reasons apart from retirement. This kind of initiative has also been introduced in Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. This initiative as we have earlier established is to improve education and the learning experience of students by inviting these experienced teachers as guest lecturers, contract staff, and to provide teaching support for experienced staff. This initiative will further assist retired teachers and enable them to earn additional income with their pensions and might boost their mental health as some studies have found that retirees might suffer from alienation after retiring from active service. So, it’s a win-win situation.
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