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As a way of improving education in Nigeria, a tutor and student coach, Mr. Ikechukwu Christopher Odika, has recommended what he called smart teaching in the country.
Odika, who began his teaching career at the Federal College of Education Katangora, Niger State, where he taught Philosophy of Education as a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, says Nigeria’s education curricula is archaic and obsolete and needs improvement.
Odika, who is the proprietor of Standard Brain Academy, Igando, Lagos State and holds a Diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the Lagos State University (LASU) and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State spoke on this and others.
What is your assessment of Nigeria’s education system?
Nigeria has what I would call a scattered structure. Every political landscape should have an ideology, what they believe in and what drives them. Nigeria does not have that, and it is the reason we have nose-dived to where we are right now. Countries like America, China, and the likes, have fixed political ideology that is not segmented and fragmented into different political parties. In America, whether it is the Democrats or the Republicans, they have a national ideology, the American dream that they pursue; the only thing is that the Republicans are more rigid and the Democrats more liberal on how to attain the dream. Nigerian does not have a Nigerian dream, the reason why Nigeria has continued as one to date is because of our resources.
So, you became a teacher to help develop a Nigerian dream?
My mindset from the time I was in school was to be a researcher. I knew that I wanted to occupy myself in research and thinking. I wanted to be like Aristotle, Socrates and others that established political theory for their country. There is a saying that when you pass through the university and the university should also pass through you. I studied Philosophy to the core. Philosophy went through me and I went through Philosophy. I am a thinker, many of our leaders don’t understand political philosophy and so they give either the president or the governor wrong advice.
What is your centre, Standard Brain Academy, about?
It’s an academy where we train people in different local exams and foreign exams. I am a professional in foreign exams like TOEFL, SAT, IELTS, and you know, GRE, GMAT, and the likes. I teach and tutor people, I instruct them and I manage worst case scenarios, worst case in terms of people who failed these exams severally, I coach them. You know there is a particular level of band the embassies and schools abroad require you score before they accept you. I have managed the worst case of people who have sat for that exam several times and through my tutorials they passed.
What sets Standard Brain Academy apart from other centres?
As a philosopher, I know the importance of wisdom. The study of wisdom means I am supposed to know what is ahead. What is going on right now is that Nigeria has not realised that things have changed and other countries have started implementing it. We are in a digital world, things have changed; things are no longer done in the traditional way we knew. Our education system is archaic and obsolete. We lean on theoretical issues too much. And that is why at the end of the day, we don’t achieve anything. Nigeria has become a dumping ground because our schools are not working. Our schools are backward, so what I intend to do is to bring digital stride into academics. I want to introduce smart learning.
Our students today are different from students of their age bracket 10 years ago. Their mindset is quite different; they are very fast, they are very calculative because of the technology they have today. It is beyond computer age, it is smart. So, you can’t continue teaching them using those archaic and traditional ways of giving notes on the board or giving them textbooks to read. Those are tiring for them. You need to give them smart things. So, I want to teach them using smart technology because when you put smart and smart together you produce smartest. When you bring analogue, that is a teacher coming to teach smart children in the traditional way, it brings boredom. You can see examinations today are moving away from paper-based to computer based. So I am preparing these students to embrace that new reality.
Sometime ago the Federal Government removed the study of History from the curriculum but met stiff resistance, which led to its return. How important is the study of History?
I was perplexed when the government removed the study of History from the curriculum. The study of History is supposed to be compulsory for science, art, and commercial. The truth is that it is not theoretical disposition that makes you educated; practical disposition makes you educated. What stands me out amongst all the academies that you see here is that I want to go digital.
There is a proliferation of study centres around the country; some are registered others are not. What is the status of Standard Brain Academy? Do you have the required certification?
My business is registered. I›m coming from a very honest disposition. I want to do things clean. I know what is happening, and these fake result syndromes. Before I delved into this, I knew it would not be easy because what I’m trying to introduce is a new thing. I am very interested in educating these children in a positive angle, not in a negative angle. I want to teach these students how to work hard. The students are very happy with the way they are taught here because it makes it easier and interesting for them.
What is your advice to young students?
Two things that affect how the nation turns out are parenting and schools. When I say parents, I mean articulately the mothers. Mothers are born educators whether they are educated or not. They are the ones that make the society. The reason why we are here, I›m telling you in philosophical terms now, is because of these women. If a society is bad, it›s as a result of these women and if a society is good, it›s as a result of the women. So, if you train your child the way they should go, the society will be good. There is a whole lot wrong with motherhood in Nigeria. So, you need to change the orientation of motherhood. Mothers really need to nurture their children; everybody now looks for money so they just dump the child at crèche for strangers.
Now, the second one is school. If the home has failed, the school should repair what the home failed to do. The school should be an appendage to help the society. So, if a particular child is not well groomed at home, the child will be groomed in school. The school should remould them to become good members of the society.
