My vision for Ekiti State College of Education By Dr. (Mrs) Mojisola Oyarekua.

The Provost, Ekiti State College of Education, Dr.(Mrs) Mojisola Oyarekua, in an interview with
SAM NWAOKO speaks about the current state of teachers’ education in the country, dwindling students’ enrolment and her achievements since assumption office last December.

The Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka, said recently that teachers operating from primary level to university level
without a teaching qualification would be stopped from teaching in the next two years. Is this feasible? I think it is possible, especially from the primary school level to the post-primary level; but I’m skeptical about the university level, because I’m not sure that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will take kindly to that.

However, the truth must be said: we need certificated teachers in our primary and secondary schools, because most of these schools have
teachers that are not professionals. The trend in many private primary and secondary schools has even worsened the situation, because proprietors and proprietresses of these schools just employ anyone that comes their way without considering their competence or professional qualification.

I strongly believe there is a nexus between the high rate of failures in public examinations and the
quality of teachers that prepare students for these examinations.

How would you describe the current state of teachers’ education in the country? It’s not encouraging at all. Teaching as a profession is no longer encouraged; it doesn’t
enjoy the privilege it used to have in those days.

In those days, people were always proud to be teachers, because they were given due recognition as molders of destinies; but now things have changed.

People now see teaching as the last
resort. After trying to get jobs in other professions without success, they then take up teaching
appointments.

How do you expect such people to
put in their best? What could be responsible for this? Funding is one of the issues responsible for the
degraded level of the profession in our country.

Besides, there are no incentives, no
encouragement for teachers and the profession.

The resultant effect of this is that people who have interest in teaching look elsewhere for jobs,while wrong people or quacks find their way to
the classrooms.

There have been calls for the phasing out of the National Certificate in Education (NCE) because the educational realities in the country seem to favour a relatively higher and better qualification or curriculum that would help train manpower for
primary and secondary schools in the country.

What is your view on this?When will that curriculum be developed? While
developing it, is there going to be a vacuum?Apart from that, you cannot compromise teachers’ education because the development of
any nation depends on the quality of its teachers.

Since colleges of education are training qualified and skilled NCE teachers, why should you phase
out the certificate? There is no way you can compare a qualified teacher with somebody who stumbled on teaching.

NCE is a professional training certificate for teachers; its importance cannot be downplayed. As far as I’m concerned there is nothing wrong with NCE.

To state the reality, (NCE teachers) are the best set of qualified teachers we have around considering the
rigorous training they are given.
Don’t you think this call for NCE cancellation is as a result of the sharp drop in the number of
students seeking admission into colleges of education across the country?No.

The problem is our educational system that subjects all candidates seeking admission to institutions of higher learning to the Joint
Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

So, your choice is either university, polytechnic and the last is the college of education.

Why can’t the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) take in students as a body?
Are you calling for an independent examination or admission body for colleges of education? Yes, that will create flexibility and enhance the
entire system.

As it is now, all students sit for the
Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, and with some universities accepting 180, most
students will end up in universities to the detriment of colleges of education or polytechnic.

Since we respect degrees more than any other qualification, the tendency is that most students would rush to universities, with very few coming
to us.

The admission process is one-sided; it favours universities. This is not healthy for a nation seeking development on all fronts. There
should be separate independent examination bodies for colleges of education, polytechnics, and
universities so as to engender efficiency and flexibility.

How has Ekiti State College of Education fared since your assumption of office and what was the situation of things before and now? While I commend my predecessor for what she did
before my appointment, I’d like to say that we have made a lot of improvements.

All the hostels in the college have been renovated. When I came
on board, I went round all the offices and hostels in the college and discovered that they needed
urgent renovation.

Almost all the buildings on campus have been repainted. The last time this was done was about 26 years ago.

I established gymnasiums for our students and another at the
college’s guest house for outsiders. We have also sunk many boreholes for students and in our staff
school to alleviate provision of water challenges.

We have started a printing press for the college,the bindery section has commenced, in another two weeks the printing press will take off fully.

We will start water production in two or three weeks from now. Very soon, our bottled and sachet water will be seen in Ekiti State.

I have sent so many members of staff for training; some of them just returned from the United Kingdom,
and more are still going to be sent abroad this year.

There is no arrear of promotion since I came; I made sure that I sent assessment out for those that are qualified for promotion, and those
due for promotion will soon be promoted.

I donated laboratory materials to the staff school on my own to enhance teaching, because when I got there I wasn’t impressed with the condition of their lab.

We have procured an x-ray machine for the college’s health centre. It’s rather expensive, but I feel we can generate money from its use.

The college’s farm and all the facilities there were lying fallow when I resumed, but right now we
have resuscitated it. We brought some consultants there, and they couldn’t believe what they saw there.

Right now, we are starting organic vegetables. We have also liaised with a company in Netherlands; we are going to be producing organic tomatoes.

We have resuscitated our poultry; we are currently working on our tractors. Very soon, some of our produce,like red oil, pork, vegetables would hit the market.

We have also established a skill acquisition centre in the college to allow students learn at least one
skill within three years of their programmes so that they can set up later after leaving the college. .

This is at no cost to our students, they only pay about N500, but each year, we introduce them to a particular skill so that at the end of
their programmes they have at least two skills they can set up later.

We now have anti-corruption unit to deal with, not just cases of
financial malfeasance, but also sexual harassment, victimization or any other form of malpractices, if there is any.

In less than five months, you have achieved all these. How did you get fund? What we did was to establish entrepreneurial skills.

I mandated every department to come up with a skill that would attract people from outside, not necessarily to be our full students,
but to come and acquire one skill and get a certificate for that.

So, each unit in the college has something in place now for people outside.

We have also reached out to banks, not to give us loans – we can’t afford that – but to extend their social responsibilities to us, and some of them have done exactly that.

What other plans do you have for this college? My main vision is to have highly skilled and well-
trained professionals in science and technology,education and associated disciplines who would
one day turn things around for our country and make the college proud in their future endeavours.

I want research, teaching and training conducted in orderly manner to meet with global best
practices. I want to train my staff and expose them to new things locally and internationally.

My students would also be encouraged to be focused and hold on to the passion they have chosen.

To do this, we have improved the ICT in the college; in fact we are working with other institutions to
create a good e-platform for the college, its staff and students.

Our e-library is one of the best in
the South-West geo-political zone. Besides, we are working towards ensuring that all our students and staff are computer literate.

We have more than enough computers to do this, and I believe this will be done. I want people to say, at the end of my tenure, that there has been an improvement in this college, in terms of staff
development, academic quality, research, as well as provision of infrastructural and teaching facilities in the college.

What are the challenges you have faced so far since you assumed office? The greatest challenge has been funding. It’s not peculiar to this college; it’s a national thing.

We don’t have adequate funds to execute our programmes and initiatives.

Another challenge is the decrease in enrolment. Students are not really
enthusiastic about going to colleges of education.

This is really dangerous for the nation, because everybody cannot become lawyers, doctors,engineers.

Some people have to train these other professionals. So, if people refuse to come to colleges of education, I foresee a major problem.

Besides, those students who are currently in the college do not pay school fees citing the financial
challenge in the country as the reason.

They keep on giving excuse that their parents are civil servants.