Interview with Secretary, Education (FCTA Abuja)

The Secretary of Education, FCTA, Abuja

, Alhaji Bala Mohammed Ibrahim welcomed Premiere Academy students for an interview session on the 23^rd of May 2019. The interview began with introductions from students Akan Edward Kanong (SS2), AhmaduJabiru (jSS2), Okam Joshua (SS1) and Chizaram Okonwo JSS1, who represented Premiere Academy as worthy ambassadors and solution experts ready to discuss the issues challenging quality education in the FCT. The students were accompanied bythe English Language and the French teachers from Premiere Academy, Mr John Oluwafemi and Mrs Favour Nyiam, respectively.

AlhajiBala Ibrahim was delighted to receive them as he mentioned education was his passion and teaching, his profession - a profession he loved so much. He added that, he always enjoyed the company of students, especially when engaging in intellectual discussions.

The interview session was characterized by episodes of questions and answers. The students asked their questions in a professional manner and the Secretary gave answers to enlighten them. Find excerpts of the meeting below in detail;

Student: What are the set objectives for your Ministry?

Secretary: To improve the quality of education within the FCT by making sure we have more standard schools and quality teachers. Government schools must have acceptable standards that cut across all schools in the FCT, irrespective of geographic location or stratification. There will be no such thing as a local school among the available FCT schools. Every year a benchmark is set to task FCT schools, and measure performance.

Student: What challenges do you face in improving the quality of schools in the FCT?

Secretary:  The challenge of embracing our teachers and making students believe they can achieve their dreams, irrespective of their backgrounds. It’s not about the kind of school attended but about having the same standard of education, providing adequate guidance and counseling services to combat inferiority complex among children from government schools, addressing the issue of inadequate funding for secondary schools.

Student: What is your take on using the cane to discipline children in schools?

Secretary: Discipline is very important in secondary schools. Teachers should be allowed to exert at least some form of discipline to correct students otherwise students can go out of hand and out of control. The issue with caning is that students may have some form of medical issue unknown to the teacher and then beating or caning could lead to something else. But the act of allowing them be regarded as adults would work abroad, as their culture permits that. However, here in Africa we punish our wards as a form of responsibility to correct.

Student: What plans are being made to ensure security in schools, especially boarding schools within the FCT?

Secretary: The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is working with the Education arm of the FCTA to improve security plans across schools. All schools are expected to have fences round their environment. The Fence should be high enough to prevent intruders from jumping-in easily. The security and staff of the school are taught to be aware of the signs. The call centre stays on 24/7 to respond to any emergency. UBEC is also finding more ways to revamp security across schools within the FCT.

Student: What actions have your ministry taken as regards the issues of external examination officers conniving with school heads to commit examination malpractice?

Secretary: WAEC always gives a rundown of schools that have colluded with external examination officers to commit examination malpractice. There’s a process of dealing with them after due investigations. This issue is more common in private schools than government schools, and this is an issue. However when such external officers are caught, they are removed from the responsibility of handling exams.

Student: What is your take on the issue of bullying in schools?

Secretary: Bullying among students is an act of lack of confidence on their part. They pick on physically weak students to have a sense of relevance or satisfaction that replaces the satisfaction of doing well in academics. Most serious students don’t bully. It’s common among the unserious ones. Therefore parents need to play very active roles in moulding their wards with good morals and exemplary behaviour, before sending them to schools. They cannot just shift that responsibility totally to schools. Schools will play their part but they can only do as much as they can to reform the child.

Student:Given that exam is not a true test of knowledge, what is your opinion on the best ways to test knowledge?

Secretary: Well that’s true. Exam is not a true test of knowledge. And as such, some schools run multiple tests for their students at each stage of learning. Also they make students explain the subjects verbally in their own words. These go a long way to measure students understanding of the subject. At the moment, based on multiple tests, schools come up with the best set of questions that reflect the aim of testing students’ knowledge.

Student: What plans do you have for the FCT teachers in terms of capacity building?

Secretary:  The Director of UBEC in conjunction with FCTA Education Secretariat, are in charge of organizing programmes to train teachers. More plans are being made as funds are made available.

Student: Do you have a call centre?

Secretary: The FCTA has a call delivery platform, where education related issues are reported and immediate plans to militate or mitigate the issues are carried out by two groups; the private school and public school group. The Secretariat has plans to increase the number of call centres within the FCT, for quicker responses to issues.

Student: What is your take on the state of dilapidated schools in the FCT?

Secretary: This depends on the area you visit. Some government schools have fewer students while some have more. The ratio of population of students to infrastructure can be an issue. If you visit schools in areas such as Maitama ,Wuse, Garki, the government schools have more facilities and infrastructure compared to other areas. The vision here is to get all the schools to have a uniform standard education irrespective of area or location. However Government is doing their best to provide more funding to achieve this.

Student: Why are FCT competitions for schools scarce?

Secretary: A competition is currently going on, known as “Spelling Bee”, between private and public schools. Public schools are picking up and not doing badly. More competitions are springing up, where the FCT aims at providing a platform where public schools compete with private schools on various subjects and the public schools keep surprising them.

Student: What is your advice for those who despise education?

Secretary: There is a trend in society, where people not so educated rise to positions where education isn’t so important. Not to forget that many times, those educated don’t get good jobs. This shouldn’t discourage people from seeking education. The ratio of those educated that hold offices and control the economy are always greater than those who do not seek education. Besides education upgrades your intellect and provides you with knowledge that goes beyond the four-walls of a school. It can be applied to every aspect of life, family, work, parenting and so on. So why shortchange yourself.

At the end of the interview, the Secretary thanked the students for the visit and encouraged them to continue to work hard to achieve their goals. Shortly after, they all marched out for an array of photos, before he bade them farewell.