From Marks to Market – Education is past passing WAEC and JAMB exams (ONDO 2025 - 2029)

 

Not minding this lengthy read, please note that formal and informal streams of education complement each other to form a wholly educated human whether in Ondo, Jigawa, Abia or even other parts of Africa and beyond our continent. For the umpteenth time, formal education is beyond the enhancement of reading, writing and technical/professional skills (although the three are critical skill sets for every learner) as elucidated in my humble recommendations on 1^st November 2023 via an article titled “Contemplating the Five Outputs of Contemporary Education: Tangible Mantra for Tahir Mamman-led Education Ministry” (https://sartoriusresources.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-five-outputs-of-contemporary.html).

In Ondo, ours is a State wherein individuals and government take pride in the attainment of enviable heights in the arena of formal education. Therefore, having Ondo State indigenes come out among high-flying candidates at West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Joint Admission & Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations and further gun for academic certificates at graduate & post-graduate levels is not a bad venture, after all, considering several other places where less value is placed on schooling.

That said, the apparent exclusivity of WAEC and JAMB pass rates as a benchmark for the State’s educational achievement is not to in tandem with contemporary realities. The world’s educational philosophy has moved beyond merely passing Mathematics, English, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Business Studies & Economics in the classroom. Ondo State’s educational goal needs to be shifted from the micro gauge of the marks earned at statutory pre-qualification exams for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, to the macro gaze at the market. Why? Education is past passing WAEC and JAMB exams! Therefore, it was heart-warming to read on 22^nd August 2024 that the Commissioner for Education, Science & Technology in Ondo State, Hon. Laolu Akindolire, has initiated the creation of a new Department of entrepreneurship and Vocation in the Ministry. Such move demonstrates government’s response to today’s learning realities.

What constitutes the market in this context? It is the ‘work’ space wherein these educational attainments will be applied for employment and/or entrepreneurship purpose(s). The recommended mind shift therefore is one that creatively reconstructs our approach to education from the ‘answer’ (market reality) to the ‘question’ (academic focus). Like the mantra “garbage in, garbage out”, I humbly advocate that we re-strategize on the dominant educational philosophical input to have market-tailored outputs. In this new-fangled, fast-evolving, career-competitive and tech-driven age, we need to nurture and produce market-friendly students. I’ll share three scenarios to buttress this literary advocacy. 

First, I was invited as guest speaker by the management of a certain State government-owned school (names withheld) some years back in Akure and was ultra-amazed that the computer room was only opened once, throughout an academic session, for students’ use. The school Head at the time appeared to be obsessed with simply keeping the about fifty computers “free of damage” and showcasing the computer room to guests like me as a mark of his superb administrative-cum-maintenance culture. “These gadgets appear well kept”, I had remarked. He replied (paraphrased); “I don’t allow the students in here often and this has helped preserve these ICT [Information Communication Technology] devices. Besides, we are trying to register the school as a Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre and would need these computers safely kept”. It is unsurprising, therefore, when graduates of that school found it difficult to scale through a 2017 job recruitment process in which I was joined other interviewers, when unlike other applicants, they couldn’t perform simple office tasks on the computer during the interview phase.

Secondly, when I got wind of some mid-level job openings for a coming development partner-funded project, I reached out to some persons residing in Ondo State whom I felt were qualified, to apply online. Some, however, requested I help scrutinize their individual Curriculum Vitae (CV). Save for a few CVs, the majority were very poorly scripted and de-marketing resumes, lending credence to the fact that many ‘highly’ educated Ondo State residents are neither market-prepared nor market-competitive despite burgeoning academic degrees. While this is not to demean anyone, the far-from-market gap becomes obvious among our educational products.

Thirdly, my wife had shared with me some weeks back that the 14-year-old son of her Nigerian friend in the U.K participated in a rigorous & professional class drama as one of the main actors and this earned him a spot on the school’s large-sized billboard with an advert that the movie would be shown at the cinemas at a fee. Wow! The lad, who was a pupil of FUTA Staff School in Akure until 2 years ago when economic frustration pushed his mum and siblings out of Akure to Britain, is now an aspiring actor. When high school kids are carefully & professionally exposed to entertainment industry in school at less than 15 years of age, diversity of career interest, self-esteem, self-confidence, marketing opportunities and so forth are strategically awakened.

Consequently, I humbly urge the next Governor of Ondo State come 24^th February 2025 to urgently and intentionally initiate a policy framework, through the State Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, to engender contemporary and market-realistic intra- and extra-curricular activities among Ondo State Students in the following ways.

1. Hasten the creation of the new Department of Entrepreneurship and Vocation in the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology

·   Develop policies to make it compulsory for all students in Ondo State to be trained and certified in one form of entrepreneurial skill before sitting for WAEC and JAMB exams

·   Seek collaboration with multilateral development partners (African Development Bank, World Bank etc.), corporate organizations and philanthropists

2. Commence an Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Development Trust Fund

·    Forward an Executive bill to the Ondo State House of Assembly

·   Seek collaboration with multilateral development partners (African Development Bank, World Bank etc.), corporate organizations and philanthropists

· Request business ideas from undergraduates of State-owned higher institutions of learning (three universities at Akungba-Akoko, Okitipupa & Ondo and one Polytechnic in Owo)

·   Select the top three business ideas every academic session and

o   announce the prize at the end of the academic session

o   get a corporate sponsor for the three ideas 

o   conduct grand finale on a live TV show

3. Procure, deploy & enforce use of ICT gadgets during school hours

Parents of private school pupils may afford to procure personal computers for their wards to hone their ICT skills during & after school hours but the same cannot be said of public-school students and their sponsors. Therefore, I humbly recommend the following.

· Each public secondary school should have a minimum of 10 desktop computers in a designated room. Alumni association of each school can be asked to donate

· JSS1 – SS3 (Universal Basic Education - UBEC 7 – 9) students take turns every Friday for two hours under strict guidance in all schools to use the following.

o   Microsoft word (give them imaginary letters, memos, proposals etc. to write)

o   Microsoft powerpoint (give imaginary topics for them make presentations in class

o   Use excel sheet – To add, subtract, multiply and divide sums (Be rest assured that it won’t prevent them from using their brains for mathematical calculations)

o   Personal social media handles to promote an entrepreneurial and/or vocational idea (a similar scenario played out during my Master’s degree at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester - 2013 to 2014, with the use of twitter by all students)

3. Establish career advisory units in State-owned universities and polytechnics

These entities should be a must-have at higher education level in Ondo State. The four State-owned higher institutions of learning (three universities at Akungba-Akoko, Okitipupa & Ondo and one Polytechnic in Owo) should each have the following.

· A career advisory unit, with a resident Human Resource (HR) expert and other visiting specialist-practitioners

· The governing Council of each school should be compelled through a law passed by the Ondo State House of Assembly mandating all Governing Councils of these institutions to ensure the following.

o   Enforce three mandatory individual career advisory sessions all final year students with the career advisory unit

o   Have a draft CV to be presented to the career advisory unit

o   The in-school and external HR experts should come twice in a session for a joint clinic on CV writing, job interview simulation, use of Linkedin for professional job-hunting etc. for all final year students

4. Kickstart bi-annual inter-school entertainment & creative arts exhibition shows

With Nigeria’s massive global export of 'Gen Z' talents in the music and film industries, Ondo State shouldn’t be left out of strategic talent hunts. Therefore, a bi-annual exhibition of entertainment & arts among secondary schools should be explored through the following.

·    Use of holiday seasons

· Drama & Music competitions, to be held on the 4^th Saturday (after environmental sanitation exercises) of each month – 12 times a year

·    High degree of publicity (via social & conventional media)

·    Collaboration with multilateral development partners (African Development Bank, World Bank etc.), corporate organizations and philanthropists

5. Intensify bi-annual inter-school sporting competitions

In conjunction with Ondo State Ministry of Youths & Sports, the State Ministry of Education should consider exploring these competitions through the following.

·    Use of holiday seasons

·    A model developed with the concept of Olympic games

·    High degree of publicity (via social & conventional media)

·   Collaboration with multilateral development partners (African Development Bank, World Bank etc.), corporate organizations and philanthropists

6. Encourage character-building

“Education without character is like a head without a brain”. This quote famously drawn from my book published in 2015 with the title Education without Character is always relevant. Remember, education without character breeds at best, evil geniuses. Therefore, Ondo State Ministry of Education, Science & Technology should consider highly publicized annual awards for the following.

·   Three “early birds” (students who arrive at school before the usual time)

·   Students who find and return lost items

Conclusively, in this new world, an exclusive Statewide policy focus on passing WAEC and JAMB exams (as important as the two are) limits the future opportunities for Ondo State students. It’s high time the sun within the educational space of the Sunshine State shone on the job market and not mere marks.

Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi is a Medical Doctor, Health Finance Specialist, Author, Reformer, Coach, Public Policy expert and Social entrepreneur who can be reached in Abuja via adetoluademujimi@gmail.com