Pro Chancellor of Achievers University, Mr. Bode Ayorinde, spoke with Kehinde Olatunji on a number of issues in Ibadan recently. Excerpts:WHAT prompted you to start Achievers University'What led to the commencement of Achievers group is very interesting. I was working in the bank and there was need for me to write the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria's professional examination. But unfortunately, there was no center in Ibadan. People usually travel to Lagos every weekend to receive lectures. It was this vacuum I wanted to fill that made me to establish the center. So, I looked for a venue and consulted people that can teach those courses in the programs. I started the centre and became a student and qualified there. Later, we introduced other educational programmes like the ATS (Accounting Technicians' Scheme), then a secondary school, all in the name of Achievers Group. We started with CIBN professional training in 1991 and I qualified in 1993 as a student of the center. When the Federal Government started approving universities, we applied and after rigorous processing for over 48 months, we got approval on the 24th of October 2007 and we got our licensed on the 11th of December 2007. On 2nd April 2008 we started with 123 students.What is your take on the education system in the country'The education standard is okay, though most people say that there is a fall in the education standard, but that is not true. It is a relative statement.We have children that are 15years old when they gained admission into the university and graduated with First Class. It depends on how you view it. If you are talking about public schools, where there are lot of decay and the morale of teachers is very low, where teachers are not motivated to work and many of them falsify age to remain in the system, where they are not catching up with the dynamism in development of education, then you have a point. Though you can see a 15-year -old student who cannot write his name, but there are some schools where you will see fantastic students.My level of education and capability when I was 20 years old cannot be compared with my children, who are finishing degree at the age of 20. I don't join them to say that the standard of education is falling. It might be falling elsewhere but it is not falling generally. Some children who studied computer science or medicine at the age 21, the way they are handling the job is exciting and the one that studied accounting and became a chartered accountant at 21 is doing very well. It is parents and individuals that will determine what education they want for their children or wards.If you want free meal go to the restaurant and ask for it. They will give you the waste and if you want a quality meal take your money and go to a good restaurant they will give you what you demanded. As long as education will continue to be free, you can't regulate it, parent won't have a say. It is because education is free that is why it is falling. I am not an advocate of free education, though I enjoyed, it but that was then during the Awolowo regime. But now, what you don't use money to buy is no longer valued.Let parents put a little, however small, to have a say; to query the dressing and quality of teachers. But when it's obligatory and the government is championing free education only, what is the quality of what they can provide and that is why private secondary school is taking over public secondary schools, and now private universities may take over from public universities. But if all the stakeholders come together and contribute to its development, education will grow faster than it is now. I'm not a supporter of free education. I don't believe in anything free.Since you said free education should not be subscribed to for educational stability, what will be the fate of those that don't have the money to support themselves through school'That is not an excuse. There are scholarship and bursary awards for those that desire to go to school but don't have the money. These are things government should encourage. In the United Kingdom, education is not free but those who cannot afford it take education loan.Also, if you don't have the money, you might as well take education loan. There are education loans supported by the government and when you graduate and start working you pay back. Everybody should go to school. In developed nations, admission letter is what guarantees your access to the loan but as long as you lose your student membership, you can't get a loan. So, when you get it as a student, the government will monitor your progress. Also, we need to review our curriculum and make sure that the graduates that we are producing are not job seekers but people that can contribute something into the development of the nation. In a situation whereby NYSC turned out about 500,000 graduates annually and not up 10 per cdnt of them can get job, something should be done about that.What do you think is responsible for the difficulty in gaining admission into the higher institution'That is because there are no enough higher institution. This country requires about 1000 thousand universities and we are having just 104. We don't need any more private Universities because they charge fees and because of the level of poverty in the country many people may not be able to pay. What we need is quasi for private universities or government will partner with some private leaders to establish university in each senatorial district or each local government should have a university.And it should not be free because local government can't get fund to run a University but if they establish a quasi and private university is charging #400,000 while government is charging 0# then a quasi government will be charging 150,000 so that we have more universities. it is because there is no enough university that there is so much debate about post UTME. If 500,000 applicant passed UTME examination and there is space for 200,000 candidates, there is going to be further examination to pull down the number. But if the space available is 600,000 and 550,000 passed nobody will conduct any other examination.
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