Little Dee! wants to go to School!

Yes o! No be small thing o! My Little Dee! (2 years +) wants to go to school. Every morning, as we leave the house, (particularly if she is awake) she cries after us! There had been instances when she actually picked a bag and said she was ready to go to school! LOL! When her older siblings are doing their homework, she wants to do her own homework too! Well, in order to encourage her, I bought her some exercise books to scribble on and some colouring books. O! she scribbles and colours well. With excitement, she shows off her "work" and of course I praise her!

Some people had told me (jokingly) to send her to school. My reply to these people is always very simple - "When she is 2 years old". After she clocked 2, these people reminded me about enrolling her in school. My answer - "The next term. I don't want her to start at in the middle of the academic year". These people have accused me of "shielding Little Dee!, but I say to them, she will resume in September, by that time she will be ready for school.

Those days, we did not start school till we were 5+. Now, a child as young as 1 year old or sometimes from 8 months, goes to school. Not day care o! School! I have seen plenty of such mini sized pupils in over sized uniforms going to school. LOL! Well, that is the system we found ourselves in today. I do not believe a child should be sent to school at such an early age except the child is able to express himself/herself. The child should be able to eat unaided (at least to an extent). I also feel the child should be potty trained.

At what age do you think a child should sent to school?

Which way Nigeria?

"I want to know. . . which way Nigeria?"

Yes. Which way Nigeria? That is a million naira question that has to be answered.

There are so many things that are infrastructurally ill and are in need of great over hauling!

It saddens my heart to read in the national newspapers of the ongoing national strike embarked upon by the University Lecturers. This strike has been on for several months. Infact it is a spill over of previous strikes! As if that is not enough, Teachers in the primary and secondary schools in Nigeria have also embarked on a strike! What is going on?

There is a popular saying that education is the bedrock of a nation. In otherwords, education is the foundation of a Nation. The foundation unpon which a Nation is built.

It is a known fact that a building with a bad foundation will fall. A building with a faulty foundation is bound to develop structural problems in future (that is if the building is ever completed).

Rather than take positive steps towards ensuring that the education sector does not collapse, the Federal Government are neglecting that sector and "ordering" that the striking lecturers/teachers call off their strike. Why not embrace dialogue and find a way out of this incessant strikes? People have argued and reasoned that the Federal Government is not perturbed about these strikes because the Ministers, members of the House of Assembly, Governors, Commissioners and other politicians do not have children schooling in Nigeria! I think I agree with that school of thought.

In a quick defense, the education minister, Mr. Sam Egwu, (who incidentally was a university lecturer before becoming a politician in the corridors of power) said its no big deal for Government officals to send their children abroad to earn a degree! That, I think is a very watery defence. These are the same people engaging in a project to "re-brand" Nigeria. I wonder, how can Nigeria be fully "re-branded" if certain fundamental issues are left unattended?

Sometime in August 2008, the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), the registered body for Nigerian Teachers embarked on a strike that kept pupils in primary and secondary schools at home for sometime. The strike was suspended after the intevention of the Governors Forum with a promise that the enhanced Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) will be implemented on or before September 1, 2009. One year after, only 17 states have implemented the TSS. The other 19 states have not implemented the TSS and so the NUT have embarked on another strike!

Last Sunday, there was a World Cup qualifying football match between Nigeria and Tunisia. The match ended with a 2-2 draw. This draw, according to football analysts is not a good result because the chances of Nigeria going to the World Cup is very slim. But despite this 2-2 draw, the Federal Government, through the football governing body gave each player a match bonus of $10,000! What a waste of money!

Why can't the Federal Government encourage the Lecturers and Teachers the same way they are encouraging these football players who ironically did not show that they deserve that match bonus!