In this era when barely educated business moguls soon catch a fancy to own schools, and actually succeed in doing so; it is indeed heart-warning to meet Dr. Jacob Adeyanju, a holder of Doctorate Degree, who says he believes that the responsibility of training children actually should be shared by parents, the school and the government, adding also that it was the shortage of quality teachers and gross inadequacy of infrastructure, among others; that encouraged people to start seeking alternatives in private schools. Excerpts:
How does Turning Point Schools stand out among the horde of private schools operating in the country?
Turning Point School has lots of things to her advantage. First, it is located in a serene environment where pollution of any kind is not a problem. Secondly, it is owned and managed by educational experts. For example, I am a Ph.D holder in Educational Management. As the proprietor of the college, I perform all administrative functions namely: budget planning and supervision of both staff and students, interpreting and implementing government policies on the education, coordinating the parent forum, recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff, planning the programme of activities, among others. Being an expert in management, all these roles are performed effectively and efficiently without fear or favour. Even the Ministry of Education testified to this when they came for inspection recently. The leader of the team said he had never seen a school that was accurate in record keeping like Turning Point College.
What teaching or learning innovation has your school brought into the Nigerian School System?
The responsibility of training children and youth is a tripartite role of the school, the home and the government. As a school, this responsibility can never be achieved singlehandedly. But for us to succeed in this area, Turning Point Schools have been able to create a daily feedback mechanism where parents have opportunity of seeing on daily basis what their children do in the school. The parents in turn can send message to the school through the same medium on their response and observation. This I considered as an innovation.
There is the notion that private schools score low on discipline. Would you say your students are amenable to discipline?
Firstly, let me say this, that notion is ill conceived. Why? Because private schools do not have overcrowded conditions like the public schools, unless those that are mushroomed in nature or with unqualified heads. In Turning Point College for example, the teacher-students ratio is average of 1:10 this has made monitoring of students very easy. Although we cannot rule out some cases of students misbehavior sometime, with little effort we keep our students on check and they take to our corrections. Also, we hold regular meetings with the parents and any misbehavior we noticed in the students are discussed together. So, with the parents’ cooperation and smooth running of the school calendar, maintenance of discipline has not been so difficult for us.
Have you had any incident, as is the case in many private schools; where some parents have protested the disciplinary measure against their unruly ward?
Yes, sometimes, parents feel that since it is a fee-paying school, their children should be pampered. They sometimes misinterpret our intention. But when they come to argue on such occasions, I calm them down and explain issues to them. Since they have confidence in me and in the school, it doesn’t take time before they reason along.
Would you agree with the notion that advent of private schooling, has caused the government to abandon the obligation of optimally funding and maintaining public schools?
It is not the advent of private schools that has caused the government to pay lip service to the funding of public schools; rather, I would say it is government’s insensitivity to the roles of education in the society. Education plays a significant role in the transformation of human society, but before one starts to reap the benefits of investment in it, it takes a long time. Our leaders are such want quick returns on any investment. Since education would not bring such, they don’t always like to fund it. Although UNESCO recommends 26% of our annual budget on education, I think we should expantiate further by asking how much can we spend on an individual to give him quality basic education. With this we will arrive at what an average expenditure on education should be.
Would you rather say private schools have helped the cause of education in Nigeria?
Greatly at all level.
How affordable is your school?
Turning Point Schools were established with the aim of rendering community service. That has been the guiding words. This is reflected in the amount of fees charged at both the primary and secondary sections. Our fees are not only reasonable but also affordable.
Does your school award scholarship, for instance; as some form of social service to help bright but diligent students?
Yes, there are two categories of scholarship that we award yearly. The first is for the most outstanding students in SS Two. With that, the beneficiary enjoys free tuition throughout his/her SS Three. The second category is for Isolo indigene where Turning Point Schools are located. The management felt that two indigenes of Isolo should benefit from the school yearly. In this category, the two benefiticiaries enjoy free education from JSS One to SS Three.
What measures do you think that government can take, to better the lot of private schools in Nigeria?
The government should encourage the private schools by relieving them of multiple taxations. Secondly, I think the government should also help us to feel her impact by conducting regular inspections into private schools. These inspections should not be restricted to the giving of approval alone. It should be a routine in order for school owners to sit up and live up to their responsibilities. This will equally help in maintaining standard.
Has private schools helped to lower or raise the standard of education in Nigeria?
To me I don’t believe the standard has dropped at any time, rather, I would say standard has tremendously gone up. For example, as an Economics student, I was taught topics like Matrices, calculus, integration and the likes for the first time in my higher institution. But I tell you today, those topics are taught in SS One Economics. The same can be said of other subjects. In nut shell, I think private schools have helped in maintaining the already high standard. But there is still the need for the government to checkmate the proliferation of private schools, people nowadays turn everywhere to school. This has affected quality one way or the other.
What are the challenges you face as an education entrepreneur in Lagos Sate?
The challenges are multi-dimensional. First, Lagos with its peculiarities makes it difficult for parents to live up to their responsibilities on their children. In this regard, the bulk of the work is left for the schools to do. Secondly, some parents want quality education for their children but they don’t want to pay. Since private schools are self-financing, it becomes difficult to break even with that kind of attitude. Thirdly, there is the problem of multiple taxations. As a school, you are meant to pay annual due, proprietor’s tax , business development tax, business premises tax, land use charge, radio and television levies, LASSA bill, and others. Last year my local government brought a bill of N50,000.00 for radio and television. These levies are killing especially for an organization that renders social services.