Otunba Oladele Olapeju is the Principal of Kings College Lagos. Having spent over two decades at the Federal Ministry of Education, rising to the position of Director, Olapeju has gathered substantial experience in education sector matters at various levels. He had also worked closely with several Education Ministers over the years. He spoke at length to ROTIMI LAWRENCE OYEKANMI at his official residence last Saturday, in an interview that started at 10.30pm, and which lasted deep into the rainy night. Excerpts:How will you describe your experience so far as Principal of Kings College, when compared with the several years you spent at the Federal Ministry of Education in AbujaI remember that the Minister of State for Education at that time, Hajia Aishatu Dukku told me in just one sentence: Otunba, you have been here at the headquarters where you keep making policies, now, go there (Kings College) and implement those policies.So going into the school system was another experience for me, but I thank God I am able to get on well. I have had experiences both as a teacher and an Inspector at the Ministry. I have now combined both with policy formulation and implementation.What was the state of Kings College when you assumed dutyI met a very deplorable condition in Kings college. And when I say deplorable, it did not start in one year. It was a gradual process that led to the condition I met. The garbage was overwhelming, just like what Oshodi (in Lagos) used to look like in those days. It was also a period when teachers were just coming out from their low esteem. You know there was a battle during the reforms, and there was a time teachers had serious quarrel with the principles of those reforms. The reforms in the education process were good, but the manner of implementation was not too good to them. Some of them were leaving, while some felt they were just there as a last resort. So, I came at a period when there was a need to bring back the esteem of teachers and restore the schools glory.What is the situation with the teachers now Are there enough of them for all the subjects offered hereI met about 130 teachers and there were shortages in some areas. I also met about 12 PTA teachers because the PTA brought in some teachers. But because of the introduction of the lower classes in the school, we had to recruit extra teachers with the PTA paying two thirds of their salaries and the college using its own local resources to pay the other part. So, we dont have enough teachers but now that we have recruited additional 32, at least for now, we can say we are comfortable with almost 162 teachers in the college.How would you react to the insinuation that the Federal Government Colleges charge high feesThat is not correct. My school fees for next term, which we are working on now, is about N11, 000 for SS1 and JS1 and N18,000 for SS3. But for a school like Kings College, when I came, I made it compulsory that laundry must be introduced and we charge about N3000 for laundry, which is working out well. So, comparatively, unity colleges still charge the least fees.What is the level of academic performance among your students in both terminal and certificate examinations across the board, from the junior to senior classes Is the problem of examination malpractice serious herePresently, we are trying to draw up a kind of data on what the results have been over the years. I was told that the results of Kings College started witnessing a decline in 2008. You will recall that there was mass posting of teachers from Kings College, Queens College and the Federal Government College, Ijanikin (all in Lagos) in 2006. More than 30 to 40 of them were moved out and that affected teaching. The new teachers who were brought from other remote areas couldnt adjust well quickly in urban areas and perform, so this affected both of teachers output and students performances.However, while we are still mentioning the decline in performance, for Barewa College, I read it in the newspapers recently, that in this last West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), about 50 per cent of their students obtained credits five subjects. But the reverse is what we have in Kings College. Last session, we had about 55 per cent of our students having between credit and distinction in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.I am proud to say, for instance, that about 50 of my students that graduated last session are there at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), with many of them studying Engineering. We have not achieved the utmost of our dreams of being the best in terms of the examinations being conducted by WAEC (West African Examinations Council), NECO (National Examinations Council) and so on, but on the average, we are still on top of the pitch.How do you cope with the pressure of admission from influential people What method did you adopt to deal with the problemsThis is really a problem area for me as the principal. We have our carrying capacity. For instance, for the Junior school, in view of the need to increase access to secondary education as a result of the products of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme that was launched in 1999, we had to look around. Government approved 40 per class, with 12 classes. But at the end of the admission process, we had about 550 students.So, what we did was that, instead of taking 40 per class, we increased it by five or six, so we now have a class size of 45-46, which is still manageable. But facility on ground is an issue. If not for the very dynamic Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the hostels that the students are now living in was donated by the PTA at the cost of N14 million, we would have faced a lot of problems. If for instance, the PTA did not make that intervention, where will the students be So, partnership with the PTA has actually helped me to solve the problem of accommodation.We understand that the old boys have also been helpfulWe have a very helpful Kings College Old Boys Association that is very passionate about the college. They are ready to assist the college all the time, either individually or as a body. Then we have the PTA. Apart from these, we still have some corporate organizations coming in.For instance, Totalfina Elf downstream is ready to build an Assembly Hall for us and they also promised to renovate our lecture theatre. We reach out to some of these corporate organizations and some of them assist but we still need more. Naturally, if a college has served a nation for 100 years and has produced the greatest manpower, then that college should attract the attention of those people that have benefited from it.Guidance and Counselling are an important part of the school system not often taken seriously these days. In those days, teachers recognized a students potential and advised him or her on the career path to follow. Is this still happening in Kings CollegeWe have had a lot of negative influence of parents on our students. For instance, our SS1 students, when we admitted them, they all preferred science, but later on, about 50 of them dropped out of science and are now finding their levels.Normally, in a school system, you allow that, but what we have also done is that, we have reinvigorated our clubs and societies to make them more proactive. Some of the subject based clubs and societies are now showcasing some of the talents that the students have.For instance, our press club is doing very well. They (members) are not censored and they are on digital level. They use their laptops and even at the morning assembly, some of the news I didnt have time to listen to, when the press club dishes out its news, I get some of the fresh news first hand. So, I am even learning from my students and that is a positive thing in the life of the college. We want to bring out those who will eventually become Editors-in-Chief in most of the nations newspapers in future. We are also bringing back the Cadets, Boys Brigade and the Boys Scout.How do you deal with other challenges in the Dormitory, such as bullying How do you monitor the studentsI actually met a very bad situation in Kings College and I never knew it was that bad. I recall that the PTA had actually taken some steps, and when I saw the extent and the need to stem it, I quickly moved to the residence and then requested for some approvals, part of which was to recruit the Man o War members for security in the school.We also had to employ wardens in the hostels. I couldnt imagine that the boys could be left without wardens. There was no adult presence in the hostel previously, but with the employment of wardens at each floor, we were able to stem the tide (of bullying) and with the GSM, once a warden notices any bullying going on and sends a message to either the Vice Principal in charge or the Housemaster, the situation is quickly redressed.But I also carried out some extra measures. We agreed with management that any student that bullies another student should be de-boarded. Apart from being de-boarded or suspended, if that student now shows some remorse, and is coming back after being suspended, he would have to come with his parents, to the Assembly, and then read his letter of apology to all students. The parents, too, would apologize to the Assembly or the college community.Believe me, this particular measure has actually worked like magic, because the children are now disturbed to imagine their parents, standing before their friends and juniors at the Assembly to apologise and sign a letter of undertaking. This has brought back sanity into the college.Another thing. We separated cases of bullying from other offenses and gave it to a special Task Force. Its a kind of rapid response approach, such that once a case of bullying is reported, the task force moves in rapidly to deal with it, and within 24 to 48 hours, the case would have been dispensed with, and any student who is guilty is shown the way out and his parents will be promptly invited.How much funding does Kings College get from the Federal GovernmentThere is nothing to hide. The government has been helpful. I was lucky because this is the first year that the government would restore the rights of Principals to award contracts. In those days, contracts were awarded at the headquarters (Federal Ministry of Education), and that was why we had a lot of failed contracts. Now that government has restored it, this year, government has given up to N42 million to Kings College as capital allocation. But there is a difference between appropriation and actual release. The release is up to N42 million and this has helped us a lot.We are building facilities. For instance, we are building the House Masters quarters, which started in January. The first one is ready for occupation. However, electricity is a major problem here. We spend about N200,000 per week on diesel alone for the two campuses, yet our PHCN bill is about N300,000. The price of diesel moved from N115 to N150 and then to N170 and so on. But if we can fix the problem of electricity, then we can save that money we spend on diesel for other things.
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