Who killed our Education? Who pronounced the death sentence? Who are those ensuring that she dies everyday? She really is dying everyday. I refer to education as she because in my opinion education is a mother. She gives birth to all the development we see in the society. Thus, her place is supposed to be hallowed and placed above everything else. Thank God Olufemi Dada's name was mentioned in the papers for graduating with A's in all his courses in his chosen field of Psychology; thus becoming the first Nigerian to graduate with a G.P of 5.0 in Nigeria from the University of Lagos (Dr. Victor Olalusi was the first Nigerian to achieve that feat in 2013 when he graduated with a G.P of 5.0 in the field of Medical Science in Russia). However, right now Olajumoke is now the brand ambassador of two companies, has been given a modeling contract, etc and her story and story has gone viral. I'm not beefing for her. The stars shone on her, let her enjoy. However, how many companies have offered Olufemi a job? If it did happen, was it ever talked about in the papers? Has his picture gone viral? How many people know his story? Who is celebrating education in Nigeria? Olajumoke will soon become a celebrity with millions of followers on social Medias while most people don’t even know who Olufemi is-these same incidents occurred in Lagos and roughly in the same period. Granted, that there will never be a time educationists and models/fashionistas will have the same amount of publicity; education is the more lack-lustre stuff between the two but isn't there a way the media can make academic excellence look attractive and desirable to our young people? I believe that they simply have the power to do that. I'm worried about our young ones; I am very worried about them.
Sometime ago, I had very serious issues in school and that was several years after I graduated from the university. I became worried about the fact that I hadn't been mobilized for the national youth service. It was discovered a long time and several visits to school that 17 of my results were missing from their compilation. Now, how can a student be in school and 17 of her results be missing and she wasn't informed by the secretary? What is a student even doing in school if 17 of her results are missing? I was bewildered: I saw most of those results while in school.
Let me quickly chip this is in-there was a time a result was posted and I had a D. When the same result was reposted, I had an E. Not to mention of a time when I had a missing result and following up the Lecturer to make my complain for months because she was hardly in school, she gave me a huge pile of papers to search for my results. After a long search with the lecturer breathing down my neck, I found my result in another department.
Back to my story-the secretary told me to go and look for my results. A note went off in my head. Where was I going to start? I didn't know any lecturer I could approach for help me. And then, how was I going to walk up to a lecturer to ask for the result of an exam I took 5-6 years ago? I thought it was the job of the secretaries. Please, never go to those offices to tell them what is or what's not their job or you might end up never graduating-such is their power.
In the midst of the shame, embarrassment and unthinkable stress, I embarked on a weeks-long journey of finding my results. I found 11; I was going to take a spill over and the results might not be accepted because I was past due for a spill. That meant that I was on the verge of loosing the admission and all the years of work I had put in and all the money my family had spent. I decided to do something rather than do nothing. I went to all the lecturers involved, bought the textbooks and began preparing for the exams. I read like a madwoman. I was desperate. I wanted to prove to the system that I wasn't getting what I deserved. I prepared like my life depended on it: Infact I was ready to defend my result should the need arise.
On the day of the first exam, I was all nervous. It had been a long time I took an exam and even though I was prepared, I was still very nervous. I got to the hall fifteen minutes to the exam. Seeing all those very young and bright faces cheered me up. I found a seat and settled in. It then dawned on me that the hall was very noise. Everyone was chatting in groups. I thought it absurd: one should normally expect a quiet hall filled with students doing their last minute reading. "Computer age kids, maybe they are geniuses", I mused. When it was time, an announcement was made that the venue of the exam had changed. We went to the new venue, we were told to move to another. And so for the next fifteen minutes, we were trying to settle down and eventually did.
The answer sheets were shared and I was ashamed to write my matriculation number. For the next twenty minutes, I was encapsulated by answering the questions. I lifted up my head to stretch and I saw the girl beside me copying from my book. I told her to please change some of the words, she said it didn't matter. I told her it mattered to me. I wanted all these result nonsense to stop so I could serve and move on with my life. I continued writing. By the next time I raised my head, I saw a most amazing thing. The girl was looking into my paper; the girl beside her was looking into her paper; and so did the next and the next such that they formed a network of about three rows all copying from one source-me. I couldn't believe my eyes.
After the exam, the girl sitting beside me asked for my name and number. From then, she would locate me during any paper we had together. I asked what level she was; she said she was a spill student: she just finished the previous session and her friend was in final year. I said "You're a spill student and your friend in final year, yet you both are not afraid of failing?" She made a face and said, "What's the point? No matter what you write, you will still sort the course."
To be continued...
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