A 79-year-old Irish Catholic Priest, Reverend Father Jeremiah Dermot O’Connell, who has contributed a lot to the development of education in Niger State, in this interview, examines the factors that are responsible for the falling standard of education in Nigeria. Excerpts:
How would you compare the standard of education then, when schools were under missionaries, and now?
You know when a school is small you can give proper attention to school children. After the government took over the schools the population increased. At present you can even have up to 100 students in a class. In such a situation, you cannot expect a teacher to give attention to individual student since over crowded class is identified as one of the problems leading to low standard of education.
What is the way forward?
Government knows that this problem is there. They know that such class exists while the authority insists that the private schools should have only 36 students in a class. There is no regulation at all at the government secondary schools as to how many students should be in a class. It is a problem to the school administration because the facilities are not there and there are no enough schools to absorb the students.
As principal of Government Secondary School Minna for about 50 years what would you say are your achievements?
I have already mentioned the fact that many present personalities went through the school. It is a great boost to me every night when I see Cyril Stober on television and those who are lawyers and accountants in all parts of the world. It is a very big boost to the school and to me for so many have been accommodated in the school. Even the ordinary and the bigger personalities that passed through the school they did not only make name for themselves but also for the school because they appreciate the fact that they went through the school and the kind of training they got.
For the fact that nothing good comes easy, what would say are the major challenges of the school?
The biggest problem is not more than the classroom overcrowding which makes it difficult to give individual attention to the students and the provision of laboratory.
The name of GSS Minna is synonymous with academic excellence. Can you mention some of the past students of the school?
Ambassador Zubairu Dada who was a Nigerian ambassador to Poland, Nuhu Kuso, the first Head Boy is a Kaduna-based barrister and so many others that excelled in medical areas and many others are consultants. We have a neurologist in Poland, pediatrician in New York; we have so many others in Australia as consultants.
Have the old students assisted toward ameliorating problems affecting the school?
There is a very strong old students’ association that is at present organising the 50th anniversary of the school. They did a very big job in the year 2000 to organise the 25th anniversary of the school; the whole school was revamped at that time. They did a launch and they established a fund at that time to revamp the school and about N21 million was generated. The structures of the school are in good condition. Recently the 1988 class also renovated the chemistry laboratory with about N5 million. The 1984 class equally built two classrooms for the school.
You have been in Government Secondary School, Minna for the better part of your life as a school administrator and teacher, can you please tell us about the school briefly?
Fatima co-education as it was then known was established on January 5th, 1965 in the St. Louis Girls Post Primary School now Makama Primary School in Minna, Niger State. The school took up with a students’ population of 23 students. The first intake ratio of the school was 12 girls 11 boys. This is the first time education was provided to the girls in Niger province and by 1968 the school population has risen to 161 with 74 girls and 67 boys. The school at that time was staffed with six graduates and two Grade I teachers. The school became Government Secondary School in January 1973. Girls were finally phased out from the school thereby leaving only the boys in 1975. In 2000 the school organised an award night to honour those who have contributed to it over the years. Notable among the awardees were the founding proprietor of the school, Monsignor EJ Fitzgibbon and the first principal, Sister Jane Verecker.
Fatima co-education as it was then known was established on January 5th, 1965 in the St. Louis Girls Post Primary School now Makama Primary School in Minna, Niger State. The school took up with a students’ population of 23 students. The first intake ratio of the school was 12 girls 11 boys. This is the first time education was provided to the girls in Niger province and by 1968 the school population has risen to 161 with 74 girls and 67 boys. The school at that time was staffed with six graduates and two Grade I teachers. The school became Government Secondary School in January 1973. Girls were finally phased out from the school thereby leaving only the boys in 1975. In 2000 the school organised an award night to honour those who have contributed to it over the years. Notable among the awardees were the founding proprietor of the school, Monsignor EJ Fitzgibbon and the first principal, Sister Jane Verecker.
You know when a school is small you can give proper attention to school children. After the government took over the schools the population increased. At present you can even have up to 100 students in a class. In such a situation, you cannot expect a teacher to give attention to individual student since over crowded class is identified as one of the problems leading to low standard of education.
What is the way forward?
Government knows that this problem is there. They know that such class exists while the authority insists that the private schools should have only 36 students in a class. There is no regulation at all at the government secondary schools as to how many students should be in a class. It is a problem to the school administration because the facilities are not there and there are no enough schools to absorb the students.
As principal of Government Secondary School Minna for about 50 years what would you say are your achievements?
I have already mentioned the fact that many present personalities went through the school. It is a great boost to me every night when I see Cyril Stober on television and those who are lawyers and accountants in all parts of the world. It is a very big boost to the school and to me for so many have been accommodated in the school. Even the ordinary and the bigger personalities that passed through the school they did not only make name for themselves but also for the school because they appreciate the fact that they went through the school and the kind of training they got.
For the fact that nothing good comes easy, what would say are the major challenges of the school?
The biggest problem is not more than the classroom overcrowding which makes it difficult to give individual attention to the students and the provision of laboratory.
The name of GSS Minna is synonymous with academic excellence. Can you mention some of the past students of the school?
Ambassador Zubairu Dada who was a Nigerian ambassador to Poland, Nuhu Kuso, the first Head Boy is a Kaduna-based barrister and so many others that excelled in medical areas and many others are consultants. We have a neurologist in Poland, pediatrician in New York; we have so many others in Australia as consultants.
Have the old students assisted toward ameliorating problems affecting the school?
There is a very strong old students’ association that is at present organising the 50th anniversary of the school. They did a very big job in the year 2000 to organise the 25th anniversary of the school; the whole school was revamped at that time. They did a launch and they established a fund at that time to revamp the school and about N21 million was generated. The structures of the school are in good condition. Recently the 1988 class also renovated the chemistry laboratory with about N5 million. The 1984 class equally built two classrooms for the school.
How would you describe the general learning condition in the school?
The school is blessed with ICT centre housing 50 computers, the facilities are there, the teachers are there but again the problem of overcrowding is too much. As an English teacher, if you go into a class of 100 students and give about three essay writing it is practically impossible to make correction on about 300 essays in a week.
What would the reverend father want to be remembered for as the longest serving principal of GSS Minna?
I will like to be remembered as a person who has done his best to educate and produce students of integrity. And produce students who will appreciate the fact that they have been educated in this school. That is what I want to be remembered for.
The school is blessed with ICT centre housing 50 computers, the facilities are there, the teachers are there but again the problem of overcrowding is too much. As an English teacher, if you go into a class of 100 students and give about three essay writing it is practically impossible to make correction on about 300 essays in a week.
What would the reverend father want to be remembered for as the longest serving principal of GSS Minna?
I will like to be remembered as a person who has done his best to educate and produce students of integrity. And produce students who will appreciate the fact that they have been educated in this school. That is what I want to be remembered for.
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