Towards Educational Reform In Rivers

The massive investment by the Rivers State government in modern infrastructure as a first step towards building the capacity of the average Rivers indigene cannot be over-emphasised. It really shows that someone somewhere is interested in the future of the state.

It is quite disheartening to hear about mass failure of students in WAEC, NECO and even in aptitude tests that most organisations conduct as a prerequisticfor employment. This can be attributed to many reasons. Location, standard of living, financial situation of parents, qualification of teachers, instructional, motivational and conducive atmosphere of the school environment are some of the factors that determine how well  a child would do in school. The foundation a child has from nursery/primary school goes a long way in determining his or her future.

Now that the government is providing a very good foundation for the school children through beautiful edifices, state of the art equipment, new school uniforms, books et al, it is equally important that the retraining of teacher should start immediately. This can be done in different ways. One, by retraining a few teachers who in turn will become teacher trainers. Their job is to go round the different local government areas of the state to train  their peers. This is cost-effective as not too many people will be trained by the consultants.

Alternatively, a massive re-training scheme can be undertaken by those in charge (board, ministry or consultants in education) to administer training for all teachers.

Specialty –based training is very important as well. Traditionally, primary school teachers are perceived as persons with lower education and less training. This of course is true. But for Rivers State to excel, the situation has to change. If children are taught by poorly trained or poorly equipped  teachers at the primary level, they will end up with deficient  knowledge which they will carry on to the secondary and tertiary levels.

Pygmalion in the class room theory suggests that teachers favour those students who do well, while relegating the others to the background. This makes perfect sense in a teacher who has not been trained properly in teaching methods. ‘Slow students, slow down the class’. The tendency therefore, is to move on without such students.

So, it is very important that the standard of training of teachers has to improve. Otherwise, all the money spent on the new schools will go down the drain. There is no reason why primary school teachers should not be as qualified as their counterparts in the other levels of education. The world is now technology based. A teacher who is not computer literate has no business in teaching in this modern times.

The recent news about the massive failure in external examinations in the country is regrettable. I want to believe that the level of corruption that has eaten deep into the fabric of our society is beginning to reflect itself in our children. Today, we have ridiculous situations where parents bribe exam supervisors to help out the children during examination. Many parents buy question papers for their children, all in a bid to make their children pass examinations. These horrible stories merely showcase what our society has become.

The fact that WAEC and NECO results are nothing to write home about means that we have to go back to the drawing board to fix whatever is wrong. The new state of the art  schools being built by the Rivers State Government have to have state of the art teachers, otherwise, the whole effort will become meaningless.

The government should, as a priority, start re-training teachers. The school curriculum has to be re-visited. All the stakeholders must be involved in the reformation of education in the state. Teaching methods have to be followed meticulously.

The provision of nice chairs and nice race tracks will not translate into good results for students in external examination witout proper training of the students. As much as these facilities are good and welcome for the total education of the child, it is equally important for the teachers to be able to use the facilities that have been graciously provided to produce excellent results.

Teachers, administrators of education policies and parents should work together to bring about the much desired change for the state.  I am not sure Parents, Teachers Association (PTA) still exists in Rivers State.  If it does not, it should be revived. Teachers, parents, and students conferences should be held periodically.

In other words, to make our education function optimally, all hands must be on deck. The government has provided the infrastructure and equipment, the school board or whoever is in charge of training has to immediately embark on massive re-training of teachers, while parents and community leaders make their own contributions too towards the educational reform in the state.

Dr (Mrs.) Wikina, is a consultant sociologist.

Ada Wikina