Chief Shodimu Abdulkabir is an accomplished educationalist, farmer, activist, and a community leader. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Evergreen International Schools, Ifo, Ogun State.
In this interview with Emmanuel Udom, Abdulkabir spoke on the roles parents, teachers, communities, states and the nation, are expected to play in the molding of our students, who are regarded as our future leaders.
Your school-Evergreen International Schools seem to be blazing the trail in quality education delivery. What is the unique selling point of the school?
Well, in our school we strive by the grace of God to inculcate the norms of a decent society on our students. . In other words, we educate our students to refrain from corruption in all forms and under any guise.
Please explain the corruption angle in the education sector?
Corruption exists everywhere and in virtually all sectors within and outside our country. But, in the educational sector, it begins at the cradle with some corrupt parents, teachers and school owners getting involved in padding or cooking--up figures and marks for their students.
This has over the years resulted in some corrupt parents sponsoring teachers to engage in all forms of malpractices like answering examination questions for students, withholding examination scripts, and falsifying the scores or marks of report cards for their students.
So what is the way out here?
The way out is for parents, guardians, teachers, school owners to realize that examination is not a do-or-die affairs. Here in our school, we strive to deliver qualitative education to our students.
Take it or leave it, not every student will become a medical doctor, farmers, engineer, accountant, banker, lawyer, etc.
We also need cobblers, petty traders, fashion designers, labourers, security officers, carpenters, artisans, etc in our society.
With these, our society will become batter, as we will not have half-baked graduates, but those who could stand their grounds anywhere and at anytime.
You earlier talked by feedbacks from examinations. Can you please elaborate on it?
Yes, parents need to buy textbooks for their children or wards. Teachers on the other hands need to stop padding or cooking- up marks for students, when they have collected money from parents, school owners should discourage padding in all forms.
Teachers should write the actual marks scored by each student during examinations.
With these, honest and realistic parents will have fair ideas of the true pictures as far as the education of their children are concerned.
What is the relationship between your school and the communities where it is located?
To the glory of God, the school has a cordial relationship with the various communities where it is located.
How do you get students, since I do not see banners of your school placed at strategic places in the communities, apart from the signboard?
Well, we get students through referrals from our former students, parents, guardians and other people in our comminutes, who are satisfied and appreciate our method of imparting education on the students.
What is your advice to government at the local, state and federal levels?
Government at various levels should create an enabling environment for education also at various levels to strive.
Public and private school owners, teachers and stakeholders in the education sector should endeavor to stop corruption in all forms in the sector.
The society will be better eventually for it, as it takes education, self-discipline and self-reliant for individuals and the nation to succeed.
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