Clervaux Montessori School visits The Guardian, advocates skilled teachers in Nigeria

Clervaux Montessori School in Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos has called for the engagement of competent teachers to deepen learning in Nigeria.

The school made the call when 80 of its pupils visited The Guardian in Lagos.

Mrs. Opeyemi Ojo, who led the pupils, said they were at the newspaper house to learn about its production chain.

They were conducted round the company premises, and also taught the processes involved in newspaper production.

According to Ojo: “We came to The Guardian to know more about what is happening in the media industry. I am glad that we met the Publisher of The Guardian, Mrs. Maiden Alex-Ibru.

“Every term, we choose a theme to explore, and our focus for this period is Mass Communication. We know that this is where information is processed, and we want the pupils to understand the activity at this early stage of their lives.

Ojo explained that her 15 years experience as a teacher has taught her that “government schools are lagging behind. It is therefore important that they engage more qualified teachers to put the pupils on sound footing.”

She recalled the story of Kaduna State where some teachers allegedly failed to pass the West African School Certificate examination (WASC).

She stressed that it was incompetence that would make a student to pass the WASC examination, while his teacher fails the test.

On what could be done to deepen teaching beyond the classrooms, she said called for more guided tours.

“Other means to get students learn fast, as being done in developed countries is to take them out for excursions like we are doing presently. They should be taken out to different place to see various things.”

“Children love going out, and they learn as they do, rather than limiting them to the classrooms,” she said.

She cited the working of the printing machine, which the pupils were shown witnessed, adding that such knowledge would stay in their memory forever.