I will teach even in retirement — Overall best teacher, Olaoluwa, says

The teacher, who emerged overall best in the 2020 President’s Teachers and Schools Excellence Award, Asubiojo Henry Olaoluwa, has said that he would remain in the teaching job despite the challenges.

“Even after my retirement I will continue to teach,” he said.

Olaoluwa, a teacher at Amoye Grammar School, Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State, a public school, beat other teachers in both public and private schools to clinch the overall best and was rewarded with a brand new car at an event to mark the 2020 World Teachers Day, held at Eagle Square, Abuja on Monday.

He said his mission is to train students that will be pragmatic, have positive thinking and without fear of confronting problems.

Olaoluwa, who started his teaching career in 2006, said he taught mathematics, chemistry, physics and geography.

“I am also a fabricator of science equipment; I am the coordinator of the Students Advancement for Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE). I like working with youths and my mission is to train students that will be pragmatic, have positive thinking and will not have any fear in confronting problems,” he said.

On what he did differently that made him outstanding, Olaoluwa said he works round the clock. “Because teaching work is 24 hours, I work both day and night. I use the project method and I still stay more with the students because of their level of assimilation.

“I motivate them and encourage a lot of students to study physics which people have always dreaded. I have students who have graduated as physics teachers and I am hoping they will get employed,” he said.

While noting that he will continue to train youths to make them productive, he said he will also not relent in ensuring that they are morally useful to the society and contribute to the development of indigenous technology, which he specializes on.

Meanwhile, Aliyu Alhasan from IPDI, Minna, and St. Joseph CRS School, Iboko Offot, Uyo, emerged first and second runners-up, respectively, in the public school teachers award category while Istifanus Caroline, a teacher from ECWA. L. Crawford, Kaltungo, Gombe State, emerged the best private junior school teacher.