Education

By Aminu Rabiu Kano

If there is one vexing question that has continuously engaged the attention of stakeholders worldwide, it is certainly about the future of a classroom teacher in the ever-changing global world. No doubt, the role of a teacher is critical in building and sustaining a healthy and responsible society. Indeed, the future of any thriving community rests in the teacher’s pivotal role to progressively impart valuable lessons and skills to children. But then the world is fast evolving, from one era to another, thereby altering the modus operandi of several human activities, teaching and learning inclusive.

In the 21st century, the world has witnessed so much transformation in virtually every aspect of human life, with technology leading the way into a more digital world. The change brought upon by the technological revolution has had a tremendous impact on every facet of human interaction. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has shocked the entire world as physical human interactions were curtailed, thereby bringing a paradigm shift in man’s understanding of his environment.

Specifically, the education sector is affected by the changes constantly happening in and around the world. Naturally, this raises serious questions about the role of a teacher. As globally recognized, a teacher everywhere possesses some latitude of power and influence, which earns him respect in society. But since the world is witnessing tremendous changes that have never been seen before, some urgent questions arise that are pertinent to a teacher’s continued relevance.

On the one hand, a teacher is expected to help students learn by imparting knowledge and setting up a situation in which students can and will learn effectively. While on the other hand, he (teacher) is faced with the daunting task of introducing a novel, pragmatic approach to learning to be at par with changes in the world. While the task is enormous, it is still humanly possible for a teacher to deliver his primary functions while at the same time leading with power and influence.

Research by Kappa Delta Pi (2015) discovered that little value occurs in any classroom without excellent teacher preparation to lead students. This implies that the leadership skills possessed by a particular teacher have a tremendous impact on learning outcomes. A teacher, in this context, is equated with a senior policymaker whose ability to lead the way for progressive policies and handle complex issues has a direct impact on the happiness of a vast number of people.

A teacher is thus not seen as a leader with limited influence and power but a leader of all students, of people large and small. Therefore, teacher leadership is an inescapable reality. In essence, I am saying that in a bid to maintain and even augment their relevance in a changing world, teachers must possess some leadership skills to meet students’ demands.

Secondly, for teachers to remain relevant and influential in a fast-changing world, they must be an agent of change. But in order not to misunderstand change with fashion, a teacher must do some research to be able to glean the source, nature, character, prospects, and challenges of any change mantra. This means understanding the politics of change and collaborating with like minds in pushing for a progressive change in all aspects of human life. By so doing, the teacher extends the reach of his leadership empire beyond the four walls of a classroom.

Thirdly, for a teacher to continue wielding enormous power and influence, he must do all he can to produce students who not only keenly observe but clearly understand what is happening around them. Therefore, the onus is on the teacher to train his students and imbue them with the mindset of identifying problems in their immediate society and investing their efforts towards solving them. In this light, skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving are pivotal.

Finally,  a teacher can only lead with power and influence in a changing world if he is adaptable. Adaptability in this context implies the readiness and ability of the teacher to receive, internalize, support, and promote positive changes. Therefore, as the world moves to a digital era, the teacher must embrace technology to deliver lessons. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the closure of schools and other institutions of learning, thereby disrupting academic activities. This notwithstanding, in some climes, teachers resorted to using technology for lessons delivery. By way of advice, a teacher must leverage technological gadgets to produce students with a digital mindset.

Aminu Rabiu Kano is a political and public affairs commentator. He can be reached via arabiukano@gmail.com.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

 Subject+ had been + verb in progressive

Past perfect continuous tense represents an ongoing action that started and continued for some time in the past.

Example:

1. Yar’adua had been seeing his doctor for two years before he died in 2009.

2. The students had been waiting for two hours when their lecturer arrived.

3. Muhammad had been teaching for four years when he resigned and joined politics

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

subject+ will/shall + verb (base form)

Functions of the simple future tense

The simple future refers to a time later than now and expresses facts or certainty. In this case, there is no ‘attitude’.

The simple future is used:

• To predict a future event:
  It will rain tomorrow.
• With I or We, to express a spontaneous decision:
  I will pay for the tickets by credit card.
• To express willingness:
  I will do the washing-up.
  He will carry your bag for you.
• In the negative form, to express unwillingness:
  The baby won’t eat his soup.
  I won’t leave until I’ve seen the manager!
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to make an offer:
  Shall I open the window?
• With We in the interrogative form using “shall”, to make a suggestion:
  Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to ask for advice or instructions:
  What shall I tell the boss about this money?
•  
• FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

subject+ will be + verb in -ing

The Future Continuous tense is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time.

Example

1. I will be travelling to Kano tomorrow this time 

2. We will be watching the football match 

3. The students will be sitting for their final exams in June.

FUTURE PERFECT

subject+ will have + verb in past participle

Example

1. I will have returned from Kano tomorrow by this time

2. I will have finished my project by next week.

3. I will have written the letter by breakfast time.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

subject+ will have been + verb in – ing 

– To show that something will continue up until a particular event or time in the future

Example:

1. I will have been teaching for six years by September 2022

2. The students will have been waiting for two hours by 10.00 am

3. We will have been playing for one hour by 10:30

In summary

1. simple present: I drive.

2. present cont: I’m driving.

3. present perfect: I have driven.

4. Present perfect continuous I have been driving.

5. simple past: I drove.

6. past cont: I was driving.

7. past perfect: I had driven.

8. past perfect cont: I had been driving.

9. simple future: I will drive.

10. future cont: I will be driving.

11. future perfect: I will have driven.

12. future perfect continuous: I will have been driving.

Concluded

Nuru Aliyu Bauchi wrote from Bauchi via nurubh2015@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Students and their parents are worried as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatens to embark on a fresh indefinite strike.

Recall that ASUU suspended its nine-month-long strike in 2020 after reaching an agreement with the Federal Government. Still, after a year, the government is yet to fulfil its promises to the union.

The ASUU’s strike has been described as one of the most lingering issues that has been paralysing Nigerian universities, leading to the delay in students’ graduation and the deterioration of the education system in the country.

Not only that, many people argue that the strike has destroyed the future of many promising youths.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chairperson of ASUU Kano State Branch, Comrade Haruna Musa, and the Union’s Secretary, Comrade Yusuf U. Madugu, declared Monday, February 7, 2022, as a lecture-free day.

Its essence is for ASUU to use the day to sensitise university students, parents and other stakeholders on the brewing crisis arising from the Federal Government’s failure to implement the existing agreements with the union judiciously.

Educational sector at the receiving end

A lecturer at the Department of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano, Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi, said that the strike was killing the country’s educational sector and the economy.

Dr Abdullahi cried: “It is a sad development. It looks childish and an endless menace, especially to the Nigerian educational system. Strike has become a thorn in the flesh of Nigeria’s general development. No nation can prosper morally in such a nasty situation. It is, indeed, unfortunate.”

He added that the situation “generally makes people, teachers, students and their parents to become very dull and uncertain of their future. You can take it to the banks that crime rate will somersault, and new bad things will manifest within the wider community”.

Students at risk

The president of the Mass Communication Students Association (MACOSA), Bayero University, Kano chapter, Comrade Sadisu Sada, decried that industrial action in Nigerian universities had been there for quite a long time.

He said, “It is worrying. The issue affects students directly. And for me, the government is to blame.

“ASUU is doing her best to give the educational system all that it requires. If not, education would have died.”

Umar Isah Dandago, an undergraduate of the Department of Mass Communication in the university, also voiced his grievance, saying this would delay his graduation.

Dandago said: “We would have graduated if not for the 2020 strike. This is a serious problem. A lot of people want to do something, like setting up a new business after university, but because of the strike, it’s becoming almost impossible.”

He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to give ASUU what it demanded, saying, “I believe it’s not even half of what’s being squandered in some things that are not important to us. So let’s get the education we deserve as Nigerians so that we’ll be proud of our leaders and our country.”

Also speaking, Comrade Ibrahim Mukhtar Sulaiman, a level 300 student, said: “Sadly, students taking a four-year course will graduate in five, six or seven years. And this affects not only their academic careers but also their personal life.”

Parents raise alarm

As the strike looks imminent, some parents lamented that the brewing crisis between the government and ASUU jeopardises their children’s future.

A parent, Malam Adamu Kolo, who looked disturbed by the imminent strike, said that his son would have graduated if not for ASUU incessant strike.

Malam Adamu Kolo said, “My son would have graduated this year if not because of ASUU incessant strike. You can see that I am poor. I am hopeless. Our hope is on this boy.”

By Ibrahim Siraj

The Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano, is happy to collaborate with the newly launched Trust TV for the mutual benefit of the Faculty and the new television channel. Dean of the Faculty, Professor Mustapha Nasir Malam, said this while receiving a delegation from Media Trust Limited in his office on Thursday, January 27, 2022.

Trust TV is the latest addition to the list of products by the Media Trust Limited, owners of Trust newspapers. Launched six months ago and watched on StarTimes, free-to-air Nigcomsat and online, Trust TV is expected to be on DSTV soon.

While congratulating Media Trust on adding television to the Trust family, Prof Malam described the organization as an impressive success story looking at how it started a few decades ago and what it has become today in terms of readership, spread, facilities, staffing and corporate headquarters.

He said the launch of the TV channel has brought the need for a closer partnership between the Faculty and Media Trust and urged the delegation to identify specific areas of collaboration and their timeline to serve as the basis for developing and signing an MoU.

On his part, the general manager of Trust TV, Ibrahim Shehu Adamu, said the TV channel was set to fill an existing gap in the television ecosystem in the country, especially when it comes to reporting northern Nigeria.

“The North is not represented at the national level. Most of the television stations are southern-based. And sometimes, when it comes to telling the stories about the North, the perspectives are being skewed, and the stories are not told in the proper context.

Though Trust is a national medium, we feel we understand our constituency, our religion and our people, and we should be able to tell our stories better”. He said.

He added that the visit was meant to offer Trust TV the opportunity to tap into students’ potential, especially graduates who want to pursue a career in television broadcasting and those wishing to go on internships to enhance their skills. He said those services were needed to be able to drive the products.

Speaking earlier, the Editor-in-Chief, Naziru Mika’ilu Abubakar, applauded the long-existing collaboration between Media Trust and especially the Mass Communication department. He described the automatic job offer for best graduating Mass Communication students as a great success, adding that more areas of collaboration would be explored.

Trust TV is an all-English news and current affairs channel that concentrates more on documentary and investigative storytelling.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

Subject + has/have + verb (past participle)

The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed by have/has + the past participle.

Examples

1. Nuruddeen has eaten the food.

2. The students have gone home.

3. The timekeeper has rung the bell.

We can turn the above sentences into either interrogative or negative. 

Examples

1. Has Nuruddeen eaten the food?   Nuruddeen has not eaten the food.

2. Have the students gone home?   The students have not gone home.

3. Has the timekeeper rung the bell?  The timekeeper has not rung the bell.

NOTE: Present perfect tense is not used with a specific time

Examples

1. I have finished my PhD today. (wrong)

2. Nuru has seen a snake this morning. (wrong)

3. I have put away all the laundry at 10:00 this morning. (wrong)

4. They have delivered the letter yesterday. (wrong)

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Subject  + has/have been. + verb (ing)

The present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present perfect progressive tense) shows that something started in the past and continues at present. The present perfect continuous is formed using the construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing).   

Examples

1. The dog has been barking since morning.

2. The students have been playing for 30 minutes.

3. I have been teaching for ten years.

SIMPLE PAST  TENSE

Subject + verb  in past form (-ed in regular verbs)

The simple past tense describes a completed activity that happened in the past. In other words, it started in the past and ended in the past. For example:

1. I watched the movie last night.

2. We saw a snake in the morning.

3. The man painted the house green.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Past Continuous tense is essential in English. We use it to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past. 

       1. I was working at 10 pm last night.

       2. They were not playing football at 9 am this morning.

       3.  What were you doing at 10 pm last night?

       4. What were you doing when he arrived?

       5. She was cooking when I telephoned her.

       6. We were having dinner when it started to rain.

      7.  Rabiu went home early because it was snowing.

PAST PERFECT

Subject. + had  + verb in past participle (eaten,taken, drunk, seen,flown,grown etc)

The past perfect tense describes a completed activity in the past. It is used to emphasize that an action was completed before another action took place. For example:

1. Musa had baked a cake before you arrived.

2. They had painted the fence before I had a chance to speak to them.

3. The boy had died before the doctor arrived.

4. I had worked with the company for five years before I resigned in 2019.

5. The students had played football before the rain started. 

To be concluded

Nuru Aliyu

ATAP CONSULTS BAUCHI

nurubh2015@gmail.com

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Lagos State University (LASU) has urged Bella Shmurda to return to school and earn his degree. This was disclosed on the University official Twitter handle known as @LASUOfficial.

The University said this while wishing the famous singer a happy birthday on Twitter on Friday, January 28, 2022.

On his birthday, the singer, whose real name is Akinbiyi Abiola, said he did not regret his decision to leave the school and face his passion.

The University tweeted:

“@fineboybella. Glad you have come this far pursuing your dream. Also glad @LASUOfficial played a part in your beautiful story because Univ. don’t make people rich, only incubate them to find and achieve purpose. BTW, please come back to class and earn your degree♥️.”

The singer also replied in a tweet, “I now worth half a billion streams(550millions streams to be precise ) I for still Dey lasu wine and dine with carry overs and stranded with nothing, forever glad I did my thing…🌹”

ByBilyamin Abdulmumin

At the beginning of a new session, usually from this period that many schools release admissions, fresh students often in the euphoria of the admission have their optimistic bar in full scale. Everyone has a plan for a result they want to graduate with, perhaps for what lies ahead: the labour market, scholarships, or any other opportunities.

But at the end of the study, looking back from the beginning, the dreams of a majority cannot be said to have been achieved. Although much potential would have been blown along the journey, few fittest would survive the perilous journey unscathed.

But there’s good news; having orientation at the right time, tutorials, mentorships, attendance, references, and past questions can help the freshers’ yearnings come true.

Fresh students come to meet arrays of tutorials from which one has many to choose. The school associations at the departmental, faculties, or states deem it their responsibility to provide headway for the newcomers. The religious bodies are also offering among the best tutorials on the campus. As a new to the environment, there could be so many areas of distraction, but tutorial venues should always be among the focal points. 

Like tutorials, studying past questions gives the 1-million-dollar idea about courses and the length and breadth the lecturer can go with questions. Past questions accord a student with knowledge for how the same question can be asked. These save a lot of time during the actual exams, even if exact questions are not asked. Past questions help students develop ideas on how to go about answering some questions. With past questions sufficiently studied, the student can deliver a marking scheme.

One should belong to the right group of friends. If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go farther, go with others. Interacting with some coursemates more prepared offers a chance to leverage from them. Many students who attend extra moral studies such as Zaria refresher or similar are friends material. Students who participate in such programs are usually ahead of what lies ahead.

References are another goldmine when it comes to smart study. Reference implies the materials, especially the book (s) a lecturer uses. In class, you hardly get the average gist of a lecture, and you might already jot down a chunk of a mix-up. Reference is the undiluted notes that would allow a comprehensive digest of the lecture. In other words, references are like having the original copy of a story. It helps you go through the story without interfering with anyone else’s opinion.

With regards to exams, references can be the holy grail. One of my undergraduate memories came in 300 Level. One Chemistry course from the Chemistry Department made students decry to high heaven. To make matters worse, the course coincided with a hectic day for us; it was offered after six hours of laboratory work. But this is not to justify the massive failure that followed. One of the notorious test questions that led to the catastrophe happened to be examples from a particular textbook – Castellar, I think – the reference I couldn’t lay my hands on at the right time. I passed the course with credit, but I always remember the scenario with my index finger bitten, hoping in retrospect that I had read the book (reference) just at the right time. Having a lecturer’s references is reassuring because, with it, you have your lecturer on the palm.

The most important tip that a student can take to the bank is attendance. Imagine getting information from chains of narrators. Usually, the integrity of the information fades as it cascades down from one narrator to another. It is safe to compare this scenario with missing a class. Even if one attends a class, it is not plug-and-play. So, the hope of understanding the lecture becomes blurry when a student copies from another who basically writes his side of the story. If you decide to rely on friends’ notes, the chance is that you tell a different story from that of a lecturer. Hence, you shall get ready for angry-looking results. 

Bilyamin Abdulmumin is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at ABU Zaria. He is also an activist for a better, informed society.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has fixed the date for registering for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

According to Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s spokesperson, the registration starts on February 12 and lasts until March 19, 2022.

The examination board made this known through its weekly bulletin, released on Monday, January 24.

By Salisu Uba Kofar-Wambai  

Functional education is the key to solving most of the joblessness and unemployment predicament Nigerians face today. Therefore, the philosophy of education matters a lot. Moreover, the kind of philosophy under which a particular curriculum operates determines the quality of graduates a particular system of education breeds.  

The idealism philosophy, which Nigeria’s education system subscribes to, contributes grossly to the condition of our graduates. They frequently end up chasing shadows, seeking jobs when in reality, there’s none. This is because the idealism philosophy emphasizes and dwells so much on book knowledge. The students are made to jampack and cram all the knowledge and ideas in their heads, but practising the knowledge is ultimately zero.

In other words, the idealism philosophy thrives in theoretical aspects. And this British model has since been abandoned by many countries of the world, as it has no successful ends and doesn’t suit 21st-century challenges.  

However, more innovative countries like China, Germany, and Japan that adopt a pragmatic philosophy of education in their curriculum are getting it right regarding employment issues. Most of their graduates are fully equipped with the specific skills required to handle jobs effectively and efficiently. Moreover, even before graduation, their students are already into temporary employment. 

The functional education practised in such countries has made their graduates vibrant job-providers instead of perpetual job-seekers we see here in Nigeria.  

It is a mammoth challenge for our education policy formulators to do the needful. They should help us migrate from idealism to pragmatism as a system. Students will then have practical skills or functional education that will enable them to establish their businesses based on their acquired skills, not just memorizing books and blowing grammar all over.

When a mechanical engineering professor could not repair a simple technical fault on his car until he refers it to a local technician, you know there’s a massive challenge with such a system of education.

I think these entrepreneurial studies and industrial training introduced by our institutions of learning are equally astute and sagacious towards achieving the desired goal. But they’re not close to where we’re aiming at. So, we must change the philosophy in its entirety first to have enough roadmap on the ground.   

The sooner we migrate, the better for us.

Salisu Kofar-Wambai wrote from Kano. He can be reached via salisunews@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Muhammad Aliyu

We often ask ourselves the question, “why do we lack reading culture in our contemporary society?” The answers we get are associated with our background and perspective on the issue. To a teacher, knowledge of all fields and disciplines is documented mainly in writing. We explore and acquire it by reading relevant resource materials of our interest for their information. We read enough literature persistently to acquire what is sufficient to be knowledgeable through either the education process or self-learning. To read and continue reading, the reading itself has to be easy, attractive and exciting to the reader. In this way, it becomes second nature and a hobby unwitting.

As a common saying, “the beginning of everything is the most important.” When a child learns how to read and comprehend the information, write what is understood by their readers, and express themselves verbally, effective communication skills manifest, hence reading culture and knowledge acquisition. This marks the beginning of intellectual independence achievable only through standard, sound and comprehensive primary education.

Children are taught to be literate in primary schools; they familiarize themselves with alphabets and numerals, words recognition, pronunciation, formation of sentence and paragraph and finally, the whole passage comprehension and composition in mother tongue and lingua franca. Reading begins by reading adventure stories in which the heroes get into difficulties. Then, using the suspense technique, the readers’ interest is held until they find how the heroes escape in the end. This boosts readers’ imagination and interests, which results in reading more stories searching for ways to be heroes themselves. With age, the readers grow older and develop an interest in how people think, talk, feel and handle situations and circumstances. That makes them critical in their thoughts and figuring out how to solve their problems through someone’s experience put in writing.

A society that adopts a reading culture will produce vibrant youth of revolutionary character that will be satisfied only with the best from anyone in all circumstances. On the contrary, anything one does with difficulty, the interest in that particular issue gradually fades away until one loses it completely, more so on the reading activity as energy and time consuming are immense. Those who are incapable of reading a quarter of the minimum words expected per minute of an average reader will certainly lose interest in reading since they are expending what isn’t worth it when they can use the same amount of effort that bear fruit in other activities comfortably. They have to abandon reading and then lose all its life-changing attributes.

The cascade of events that lead to poor reading culture begins with poor primary school back and forth. Pupils attend poor primary schools and leave without learning anything substantial. They move to secondary school still without learning much because of a lack of foundation to support the lessons taught. Somehow, they manage to pass the final exams by exam malpractice or otherwise. They get admissions to higher schools of learning and can sail through in different ways. Some do that by cheating, and others with great difficulty of mere rote learning due to inefficient lecturers that are probably victims of poor primary education or lazy in evaluating their students’ performances.

The poor products are the so-called qualified teachers that are given the available teaching job in primary school to continue the vicious cycle. It is common knowledge that one learns much less than one is taught. So, this indicates that a negligible amount of knowledge and motivation is to be learnt from incompetent teachers. Moreover, this results in the decline of knowledge in every generation.

The only way to correct this existing problem and prevent its future occurrence is to recruit enough competent primary school teachers. They should also be given sufficient orientation training that focuses on what they are to teach according to the syllabus and continuously retrain all existing teachers. Furthermore, educated parents and guardians are to monitor the ability of their children’s literacy and numeracy by themselves to ensure their performance since results are faked by teachers, especially those private schools to mislead parents.

Primary school leavers taught by competent primary school teachers don’t need to spend a dime on them in private secondary schools because they’re well equipped to muddle through and even be among the best in the current unsound state of public schools. A qualitative primary education that leads to unlimited reading culture and curiosity is what the first-generation students and their successors got and proved to be highly knowledgeable in virtually all fields of learning despite their lower certificates. Contrary to what is currently obtainable with those with all the degrees but never fails to hide their ignorance of general knowledge and simple basics that were not obtainable right from primary school.

To fix a society, fix education. To fix education, fix primary education, as simple as it sounds.

Aliyu Muhammad Aliyu wrote from Kano via amabaffa@yahoo.com.