…….. who teaches?

Ability to impart knowledge and to have positive influence in life of people are the major motive of teaching-learning processes. Educational system of these days gives little or no room to achieve the aforementioned goal. In primary level, teachers are trying possible best to bring out the best in young minds and to model what they intend to become while majority in secondary level shows nonchalant attitude towards this. Sometimes it is as a result of bad governance of neither positive reinforcement nor motivation coupled with incompetency in some teachers. Although, it is a great and challenging task at tertiary level for so-called lecturers to combine lecturing and researching. Putting into consideration the academic slogan ” publish or perish ” which determines academic recognition and promotion locally and internationally have made it untoward for them to carry out the task.

At this juncture, we need to iron out this issue by let go of superfluous activities and create a focus route for students at tertiary institutions. Instead of lecturers playing pranks on student intelligence by delaying lectures towards the end of the semester, threatening students for payment of handout for continuous assessment, boy-cutting relevant topics of interest, laziness among others, there should be subdivision of lectures into two major groups ; Academic lecturers and Industrial lectures. Academic lecturers should be meant to teach effectively not just giving out courseware or materials to students. They should focus much on carrying out practical projects with students and thereby bringing out best in them other than rote learning and vague memorization. Industrial lecturers should be trained to conduct research with industry initiatives and funding. They should be able to communicate their research results to the world using pragmatic approach. Research papers is of no importance if we can’t feel the physical impact in the societies, though my opinion. In addendum, students under academic lectureship should carry out internship/SIWES/Industrial training (IT) with Industrial lecturers to understand what they learnt better in real-world situation.

In conclusion, teaching in any form is a task that requires, dedication and commitment. If you are one, try to make a landmark of continual benefits for coming generations. Teach, do not cheat ; Nurture, do not torture ; Lead, do not deal. Mind you, philosophy is life is similitude to law of Kalmar; what goes around, comes around.

Thanks for reading!

Abdulahi O. FALADE
Founder of Acadasage.