Mrs Comfort Adeyinka Agbi, a retired primary school teacher born in 1944, said she did not commence her primary education until, at about seven years of age when she could stretch her hand over her head and touch her ear, which was one of the yardsticks then.
In this interview, she stressed the need for government to reintroduce moral instruction in the school curriculum to help combat societal vices, among others.
Kindly take us through your educational journey.
My first school was Odo-Abore Primary School, Mushin.
I studied under disciplined teachers and the form of education then was Standard 1 to 6.
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They took studies very seriously.
I also come from disciplined parents.
My father was the first treasurer of Ikeja LGA of Lagos State, and my mother too was a very strict disciplinarian.
If you did not study well at that time, you would be reported to your parents and they would beat you after you must have been punished at school.
Then we had serious teachers – though friendly, but when we were not studious, they punished us.
They applied the cane then and because I was afraid of cane, I was always cautious and serious with my studies.
I left standard six in 1957.
Then if you didn’t make a standard required for a class, you would repeat.
Then there was moral instruction apart from religious education and the core subjects were also on the curriculum.
We used to have a special day called ‘Empire Day’.
It was a day that children from all neighbouring schools came together to engage in sporting activities throughout the day.
It was a yearly event that could be likened to the Youth Day of today.
It was usually excitement throughout the day and government at that time fed us while our parents, too, put some food items in our bags because we normally exceeded the usual school hours.
It was a day we all looked forward to as the best school was honoured with gifts at the end of the day.
After my Standard 6, I proceeded to Clementina Ajigbeda Secondary Modern School.
I was placed under the tutelage of the school principal, late Mrs Rita Hamilton.
I lived with her at Akinwunmi Street, Yaba, because my parents were residing in Ibadan then.
Mrs Hamilton took very good care of me.
I left the school in 1960 when Nigeria got independence and to celebrate the freedom, we were conveyed in buses to Tafawa Balewa Square.
We lined up and we were given the small sizes of the Nigerian flag to wave.
The Police Band provided music; there were marching and songs.
All our political heroes were there when the British flag was lowered and the Nigerian flag raised.
There was a mammoth crowd at the stadium, and we were well fed.
When did your teaching career begin and what was your experience then?
After my secondary school, I was employed to teach.
Though I had wanted to be a nurse because I was fascinated by the way nurses dressed, but I was fearful especially of the sight of blood, cry of pain or seeing someone die.
So all those scared me away.
I spent about six years teaching at the Local Authority School, Ikeja, though, we were still referred to as untrained teachers because we had not gone to teachers’ college.
Within those six years, I was posted from one school to the other, including Mushin, Isolo and so on.
The salary was not much, but we were happy that we were working and helping children learn.
I was earning seven pounds, four pence and I taught all subjects on the time-table.
I enjoyed it and was happy about what I was doing then.
I believe that teachers are born; parents lobbied to have their kids in my class.
I got married in 1962.
I proceeded to African Church Teachers’ Training College, Ifako, Agege from 1975 to 1978 for my Grade 2.
I made sure I got study leave.
With that, I didn’t have a break in service, so as soon as I completed my study, I was given an appointment.
After my training, I was deployed to teach at CAC Primary School, Ikeja, later I moved to Ife-Oluwa Primary School, Sebotimo.
During the administration of Governor Lateef Jakande, the state started having state primary schools, I was lucky to have one close to where I resided, so I requested for transfer and taught there for nine years.
All my 35 years of teaching was within Lagos and it was at a time that discipline was a practice in schools.
Children were many but not as many as now.
There were enough teachers for the classes while parents were also contributing through the Parents Teachers Association (PTA).
Children sat comfortably in their classes with about 25 to 30 per class.
We gave children list of books for any new session and parents were also willing to buy books for their wards.
What made teaching interesting to you then and how passionate were teachers of those days?
I was lucky to work with passionate teachers; those that were not passionate were few.
Punctuality was taken seriously; by 7.30 am, a line was drawn with a red pen and any name registered under the red line was a late comer.
Signing under that line many times will tell on your assessment because school inspectors paid unexpected visits.
When they came, they looked at how teachers taught, their punctuality, neatness of the school premises, classes and toilets, dressing of the teachers, starting from the headteacher.
They believed that as a teacher, you must lead by example.
How did government reward hard work then?
Schools gave awards; later government started giving award but I had retired then.
I retired in 1997 after spending 35 years in service.
With your years of experience in teaching, what will you say is wrong with the Nigerian school curriculum?
There were some subjects that we did separately before but which have been merged now, like social studies.
We had history separate, citizenship separate, and moral instruction.
Now we don’t have moral instruction as a subject any longer and it is part of the reasons many children are not morally sound.
We now have many cases of divorce – children from broken homes and so on.
Moral instruction guides the children against societal vices such as rape, drug abuse etc.
Some children don’t feel loved and as such cannot show love to anybody.
Government should check the proliferation of worship centres because it is part of education.
Some mothers don’t have the time to go through their children’s books.
Women go out to work now to support the family.
All these are contributing in no small way to the educational and moral background of the children.
In the past, mothers stayed at home more.
If you were not a teacher, you would be a nurse that was why I loved teaching as a profession because it gave me time for my children and the family.
So I will recommend that more women take up teaching.
Though the pay is small, God has a way of blessing you when you handle the children in your care well.
None of my children attended private school, they all went to public schools but they enjoyed home coaching in all subjects because my husband and I were teachers.
Why was it that you taught at the primary school level all through your years of service?
I taught primary school all through because I loved it and I chose it.
Also, my Diploma in Education from the University of Ibadan and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) were on Primary Education Studies.
So all the subjects I offered were based on primary education.
What do you think about the dwindling reading culture in children?
The truth is that reading culture is not there anymore in children now. There are too many distractions such as cartoons.
Parents, too, don’t buy books for their children.
Also, storytelling, which teaches moral lessons, has been abandoned unlike the past when children learnt a lot from it.
With access to the internet now, many children spend most of their time surfing the web.
Parents should help their children by buying books and encouraging them to read.
Schools and government can also organise a reward system to encourage reading.
Comparing the yesteryears and now, would you say government at various levels are budgeting enough for education?
Governments are not budgeting enough and the situation keeps deteriorating.
If they were budgeting enough, there will be no strikes by teachers.
My suggestion is that there should be a law that would mandate political office holders to enroll their children in public schools.
If their children attend public schools, they will be forced to ensure quality and standard education as well as improve the welfare of teachers.
Also, many parents believe that private schools are the best, but that may not be totally true as not all such schools are of standard.
The government must ensure that unqualified teachers are not employed if we must promote quality teaching and learning.
More so, embarking on strike actions should not be heard where education is concerned.
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