tensor777:

Can we get back to the topic and not make unguarded statements about the state of education in Nigeria generally. In fact I wouldn't say there has been a decline in standards per se, but more that the rate of improvement has not kept pace with countries in the Far East.
Probably the LASG has to overhaul the system whereby primary school teachers are trained  recruited and remunerated and bring it more into line with what is obtained in Western and Far Eastern countries.
This could entail ensuring that graduates of different disciplines interested in primary school teaching are given the opportunity to enrol on 1 year teacher training programmes.
Eventually we should envisage the redundancy of the extant grade 2 teacher qualification and  consequently improved quality of staffing in the primary schools of Lagos state.

I wish it were true that educational standards have not being in decline in Nigeria – it’s a case of defending the indefensible. The pictures on this thread speak volume compared to what anyone would say. There are two sides to education; teaching and learning. For effective teaching to take place, you got to have qualified teachers who have gone through a good standard teacher training programme. This will prepare teachers to ensure effective learning takes place in their classrooms. The programme should also prepare teachers for the rigours of good lesson planning, classroom management, Assessment for Learning and empowering students to take greater responsibility for their learning. Having gone through the process myself, I know what difference it can make to you as a teacher and more importantly the students for whose purpose it serves.

Nobody is defending anything. It is just about putting things in their right perspective. Certainly by international standards there is a lot of room for improvement.
But I would never say that the standards and  enrolment of 30 years ago were that high to start with. There was actually a big drop in quality  when the  state governments took over schools from the missionaries. But to be fair enrolment has been steadily rising.
That is even rather beside the point. We should be thinking about how to massively improve the quality and bring primary education in Nigeria up to international standard and not looking back to a supposedly golden age.

tensor777:

Nobody is defending anything. It is just about putting things in their right perspective. Certainly by international standards there is a lot of room for improvement.
But I would never say that the standards and  enrolment of 30 years ago were that high to start with. There was actually a big drop in quality  when the  state governments took over schools from the missionaries. But to be fair enrolment has been steadily rising.
That is even rather beside the point. We should be thinking about how to massively improve the quality and bring primary education in Nigeria up to international standard and not looking back to a supposedly golden age.

I’m not sure by saying education is not in decline is a way of putting things into perspectives when all indicators of good standard education point to the contrary. Standards may not be high 30 years ago but at least they were better than what we have today. Let us learn to walk before we can even run. We can start by creating a safe learning environment with good buildings and chairs/tables and not the types that pictures on this thread have revealed. I have also put forward a case for a good teacher training programme many times on this thread. No doubt we have a lot of catching up to do to bring standards up to international level but let us start by doing the simple things first.

Then clearly it is not too much to ask that primary school teachers in Lagos State should be able to communicate properly in English Language which is what this thread is about.
I am surprised that people are even debating this issue. The pupils are at an age when they find it easier to imbibe languages.

Where much private schools abound, what do ya expect? Quack tutors who do not reason with their iq.

tensor777:

Then clearly it is not too much to ask that primary school teachers in Lagos State should be able to communicate properly in English Language which is what this thread is about.
I am surprised that people are even debating this issue. The pupils are at an age when they find it easier to imbibe languages.

There are more deeper problems in our education system than speaking 'proper English'. Not that most of us even speak the so called proper English and I don't blame anyone who don't because it isn't our first language. If a student learns better in Ibo, what is wrong with that? The student can learn English as an additional language, we need to get our priorities right.

Why would we bothering ourselfs with Lagos teachers who do not know how to speaking english. English is not our intonation. Every body have his or her own lingua franca. Does English people knows how to spoke Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik talkless of speaking them. But at least Lagos teachers can spoke English but can't speak it. I am just wanting to ask you all to put your hand together and gives Lagos teachers a round of apples. It was not easy to spoke another man language. By the way, how many of you can speaks French, German, Latin etc. If you was talking about mathematics, I would have blamed the teachers. But for another man's language, No one is to blame. If you want to learn a foreing language go ahead and learns it but don't use it to judge others. People has different taste.

Too bad!

chuqudy:

Why would we bothering ourselfs with Lagos teachers who do not know how to speaking english. English is not our intonation. Every body have his or her own lingua franca. Does English people knows how to spoke Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik talkless of speaking them. But at least Lagos teachers can spoke English but can't speak it. I am just wanting to ask you all to put your hand together and gives Lagos teachers a round of apples. It was not easy to spoke another man language. By the way, how many of you can speaks French, German, Latin etc. If you was talking about mathematics, I would have blamed the teachers. But for another man's language, No one is to blame. If you want to learn a foreing language go ahead and learns it but don't use it to judge others. People has different taste.

You are not getting the main point. It is about communicating effectively. It is the job of these primary school teachers to communicate and impart knowledge to their pupils, who presumably come from mixed language backgrounds. It is just one of the many necessary skills that a teacher in Nigeria of today must have.
Hence the suggestion that if these language skills are not present in some of the teachers, then maybe the LASG has to look at its whole training recruitment and remuneration system for primary school teachers.

who's fooling who? Anyone that cannot speak the official language of a country is considered illiterate.

I own a school and i know that to get quality teachers is a real headache in Nigeria. When i interview teachers, i almost weep. These are people who profes they have taught in a thousand and one schools yet they speak one sentence of English and u take cover. Its a shame, its a great shame.ss

slimes:

who's fooling who? Anyone that cannot speak the official language of a country is considered illiterate.

English may be the official language but not the dominant language. A large population of the country are uneducated and not necessarily because they speak no English. You seem to suggest that being educated is the ability to speak English, maybe in Nigeria but I don't think so.

I think the reason is just that the teaching profession is seen as a 'curse'  in Nigeria! Ask those NYSC members if they were excited to hear they were posted to schools, and you would get a resound NO !

Those who are 'smart' and 'favoured' enough get better jobs, leaving those who we are now complaining about, as the teachers of our future leaders! May God help us!!!

Hmmm.

@Andre Uweh: I simply cant believe some things i hear from some people who claim to be Nigerians!! You advocate the teaching of Yoruba in place of English in schools? Where the blazes are yu from? Folks like you set us back centuries. Honestly, in a different but similar way, you are like the Boko Haram sect.
God have mercy on your bigoted soul. You need help

@Chuqqudy:


Re: Lagos Teachers can't speak English language
« #166 on: December 21, 2009, 03:53 PM »

Why would we bothering ourselfs with Lagos teachers who do not know how to speaking english. English is not our intonation. Every body have his or her own lingua franca. Does English people knows how to spoke Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik talkless of speaking them. But at least Lagos teachers can spoke English but can't speak it. I am just wanting to ask you all to put your hand together and gives Lagos teachers a round of apples. It was not easy to spoke another man language. By the way, how many of you can speaks French, German, Latin etc. If you was talking about mathematics, I would have blamed the teachers. But for another man's language, No one is to blame. If you want to learn a foreing language go ahead and learns it but don't use it to judge others. People has different taste.

This is certainly hilarious!!!! Abi oo, why should we bother? Heehehehehe.

I have a few comments I would like to contribute to this discussion. I am new here; in fact, this is my very first post on NairaLand and perhaps the sixth or seventh time I’ve ever posted a comment in an online forum. I don’t usually post in online forums because of the inevitable squabble and insults that often arise when people find other people’s comments disagreeable. This thread seems different, however. So bear with me.


Take Responsibility; what has God got to do with it?
The first comment I’d like to make is about a trait I've observed among Nigerians for a long time: that is the invocation of God in every aspect of life. Read the Deputy Governor's remarks to the school in question and you will notice how she injected God into her remarks. This is a universal trait among Nigerians. What happened to the concept of rational thought? What has the fear of God got to do with the inability of teachers to master English, the adopted language of instruction in our public school system or to show up for work as required?

In the audience was the person responsible for the public school system in Lagos: the Chair of the State Universal Basic Education Board. I do not know who hired this gentleman to head the public school system, but I can tell you that in the US, the first casualty of this debacle would be his head and the entire board. I've been out of Nigeria for two decades and plan to return home next year. One thing Yankee has ingrained in me is taking responsibility and taking the fall when you screw up. When you're the head of a parastatal such as a school board, you're held responsible when the students are not learning.

We need to cultivate the concept of holding people accountable for their actions, if the country is to progress into the ranks of developed nations. Furthermore, we need to develop an aversion to mediocrity. Just showing up for work is not enough; you must innovate, develop, and improve to stay or move ahead in this increasingly competitive world. This teacher situation calls for leadership and action by the government, not the invocation of God.


English as the Official Language
As some have advocated here, I have no problem at all, if the school board determines to make the local language the language of instruction in public schools. In fact, this will facilitate learning as kids will not need to translate in their minds what they hear in English to their native language in order to understand what the teacher is teaching them. It's very difficult for a child to speak one language at home and go to school to be instructed in what is not his or her primary tongue. This is why in the early school years, our children will always perform lower than their counterparts in countries that use their native tongue as their official language. But be careful what you ask for.

One of the problems we have in Nigeria is the adoption of English as the country's official language. The relegation of native tongues to second-tier status is one of the evils of colonialism, as one poster had observed. The solution however does not lie in using the local tongue as the official language. I say this because most, if not all native languages in Africa are grossly inadequate to address contemporary issues such as technology or modern business practices.

To bring a native tongue up to a level where it is versatile enough to teach subjects such in mathematics, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, and computing, the state will have to establish an agency to invent or derive native equivalents of contemporary English words, particularly those associated with technology and modern life. The French have taken this approach to preserve their language in the face of hegemony of the English language.

However, I cannot advocate the French approach because of its potential to sow further divisions among the ethnic groups in Nigeria (I am, of course, assuming that Nigerians want to dissolve all remnants of divisions within the country). You'll all agree that one of the few things that cut across ethnic lines in Nigeria is the adoption of English as the country's official language). It will also be a very costly endeavor to follow the French example and Nigeria is certainly not a rich country.

How many languages are there in Nigeria and how many are we going to promote as the local language of instruction within their indigenous communities? Once you let that genie out of the bottle, it'll be difficult to be put it back. Just think of the waste and mess we've created by dividing the country into 36 states, most of which will be financially insolvent without handouts from the federal government. Add to that the dumb provision in our constitution that mandates at least one federal minister from each state in the federation and you can see how we create waste and promote mediocrity in the name of national unity.

The mediocre language skill of our students is a situation we can remedy. All it takes is recognition by everyone with a vested interest in our kids' education that we are producing mediocrity at elementary and even up to the varsity level. The next step is to institute practical measures to salvage our educational system and start producing quality graduates again. After all, the same school system that produced a Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie, can produce more of the same, if we resolve to fixing it and bringing it up to contemporary times.

Let's stop making excuses about English not being our mother tongue. No one forced this language on us; we adopted it as our lingua franca. I accept that English is no easy language to master. It can sometimes be illogical in its derivation of words and phrases (how the English language derived the word “gubernatorial” from “governor” while “adversarial” is a logical derivation from “adversary” is beyond my comprehension), but once you adopt it as your language, it is incumbent on you to master it to a reasonable degree.

One last word on our schools
I spent time in Lagos just a few months ago to get a taste of a place I hadn't seen in 20 years. I saw the Jakande schools people mentioned earlier. Man, what mediocrity! How do we expect our children to aspire to anything more than average when all they see around them is mediocrity? Good architecture in our schools (it doesn't have to be expensive), I imagine, could spur a child's imagination and aspiration to say, “Dad, I would like to be an architect and design something like that when I grow up”.

I realize that my post is quite long. So, to those who were able to read it in whole, I say thanks for reading. And if you're in a position to correct any of the statements I've made, I'll be more than glad to read your post.

Pifa:


The mediocre language skill of our students is a situation we can remedy. All it takes is recognition by everyone with a vested interest in our kids' education that we are producing mediocrity at elementary and even up to the varsity level. The next step is to institute practical measures to salvage our educational system and start producing quality graduates again. After all, the same school system that produced a Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie, can produce more of the same, if we resolve to fixing it and bringing it up to contemporary times.

Let's stop making excuses about English not being our mother tongue. No one forced this language on us; we adopted it as our lingua franca. I accept that English is no easy language to master. It can sometimes be illogical in its derivation of words and phrases (how the English language derived the word “gubernatorial” from “governor” while “adversarial” is a logical derivation from “adversary” is beyond my comprehension), but once you adopt it as your language, it is incumbent on you to master it to a reasonable degree.

[color=#770077][/color]
had it being we followed that trend that brought Wole Soyinka and co, we would by now be know for great and profitable things rather than corruption. It it is not too late we will get there if our leader can see beyond their pocket and feel wrong signal like what the Deputy is doing, we may move move a step ahead

If they had done it right 25 years ago we would by now be powering our electricity with local product. The technologist and engineer produced would had set up equipment locally to power this Nation.

Oh Heavenly God Save this country! one prayer i don't forget to pray whenever strange things like the wonder being discussed in this forum. haven looked at individual comment on the this issue, I had come to the conclusion that if drastic step is not taken to arrest this ugly situation of poor funding, improper training of teacher, and re-orientate those that resulted into teaching as a result of inability to secure a job in the oil sector or finance house, vagabond and mediocre will continue to be in the hems of affair of this country

During my primary school days. When I was in primary five to be precise, my class teacher was extremely brilliant in the way he impart knowledge to us. it will interest you to know that I attended a puplic school in Lagos (1983)We had enough desk and chair to learn with. When I got to secondary school (still public school) we sill had enough seat to learn with. The laboratories (physics, Chemistry and Biology) was well equip.

In those days you will feel that some of the teacher they are the best in the whole world, when they handle any topic in their subject. I knew mathematics up to the stage that I began to solve partial fraction equations and calculus in dream. I came out of the Public School without expo with 5 distinction and 4 credit. What do I want to bring out of this? Today our education had been bastardize by the so call politician who feel"if you are properly educated, your right will be place on your fore head".

Yesterday they (ASUU) promulgated that to qualify as a lecturer in the university you must hold a professorial degree. forgotten that some of them who became professor were taught by those brilliant lecturer who hold Master degree. They had examine the way Master degree is being awarded, by them to student, I won't mention way you can obtain the master degree, cos of time. Thy discover that the holder of master degree produce by them are not capable of imparting knowledge (mediocre as mentioned by "pifa". It is few among the professor that will open almost all(not all) to you. they will teach you few and make you start looking for the rest. It may invariably take you 5 or 15 years to know what they already knows. But the reverse is in the UK, America, Japan where one start from where one knowledge end. Micheal Faraday the acclaimed person who discover electricity pick the study from somebody, and another picked it from where he stop. this are what bring update, discovery and development. Not just furnishing the student with half baked information Thank God for the computer and internet world. If the attitude to teaching in this country continue like this ASUU will still create name (charter, certify etc) in the professorial degree, where those who doesn't belong will be deny of taken lecturer job. Education has to do with development, like the SAN of today. Without sound and quality education in Nigeria we will remain a man of 50 years (in 2010 suffering) from Chronic poliomyelitis (tortoise and snail movement to development)

A journey of one thousand mile start with a step. The Deputy Governor should be encourage. We will get there

Teachers can't speak English.

mama-gee:

Teachers can't speak English.

Where have you been?

@Post

Doesnt surprise me hahhaa

Sebi na Naija most of Nlers were schooled

FL Gators:

Where have you been?

I have been at home preparing for Christmas.

mama-gee:

I have been at home preparing for Christmas.

Well I hope you enjoyed it.
Merry Christmas

FL Gators:

Well I hope you enjoyed it.
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.

Our society is sick. This, and a lot of other things have gone horribly wrong. No student can do well let alone excel in the learning environment depicted here. Each time a politician steals state funds, they deprive the society of some benefit. When we have everyone stealing, its a lot worse. We need to stand up and put an end to this cycle or we will have no country to leave fro our dear children.

Teachers need to be qualified to teach and not just by getting a degree in a subject or subjects. Teaching is a profession and not a hobby! It's like asking a labourer to build a house, how on earth can they build a solid house!