6 Things with Planning

Planning is any essential element in any successful organization no matter the size of the organization.

For every plan to be successful make it go through these 6 stages in your school.

Pre- planning : This is preparing to plan, as funny as it sounds it involves looking into what will be needed for the planning process and making them available.
A condusive environment, what do we what to plan
Adjustment of resources and machinery necessary. All that is needed to plan materials and structures so as to have a feasible plan
Outline the planning procedure. How to get the resources. When to get the resources needed for this our plan.
Set up procedures for collection and analysis of information / data for every stage of planning

Planning: This is the actual planning, it includes diagnosing the project- What we want to  achieve at the end of the planning,
formulating Policies - these are the rules & guidelines to help us achieve this plan (it must be written out & made public).
establishing priorities - now which activity should come up first and which is next in a very rational manner.

carrying out feasibility studies - this is what to sell? how to sell? who to sell to? who to sell it? how much? what is the competition like? location of target market? how do we manipulate demand?

costing of the project - after doing all the above things, how much does each cost us,considering other necessary things that is peculiar to your plan, then we put all the cost together, it becomes the total cost of the plan.

Plan Formulation: This is presenting a set of decisions we intend taking as regards our proposed plan in form of a proposal to the appropriate authorities and to provide a line of action to bring the plan into implementation.
It consists of
What is proposed?
Why is it proposed?
How to implement what is proposed? This is taking actions to implement, bring to reality what is planned.

Plan Elaboration:  After the approval of the plan. This is not implementation straight away but involves dividing the plan into specific and achievable duration of time. It involves dividing our plans into what we can achieve if all resources are available and all hands are on deck- dally, weekly, monthly, bimonthly, etc dependent of the size of the plan.

It is more or less like building a house for example we want to roof the duplex- how many carpenters do we need, how  many days will it take, how many how per day will be on roofing the building, etc

For a school, what to we want to achieve a smaller objective that is apart of the big objective, how many staff do we need, like our many days should this take, how many hours in a day should we allot to this, closing time, evaluation time of the day, salary/ wage structures, what we we have left after all this?

At the end of the day we know how long  in reality it will take us to achieve this plan


Plan Implementation: This is the core stage , because if all other process have been consider. If this is left undone it is all NOTHING. Here our  plan is been executed. All little efforts here now becomes very visible, the running of a para-organization has started. Structures are used to carry out tasks, administration of activities is very visible, keeping of records now is very visible.


Evaluation of plan: So now that we have started we need to keep a check on ourselves and the project. This can be done weekly or monthly.
What have we done so far?
Is this want we intend to achieve?
What is it that needs to be corrected?
What has been effective?
What has not been effective?
What challenges have we experienced so far?
How can we tackle them quickly?
Do we need re-oreintation?

Celebrate, Inspire and motivate your team with every little success made, it renews the energy

Effective and efficient planning isn't a day job

Team work keeps plans alive

Good planning = Good projects

Between Adminstrators and Teachers 1

Courtesy and Cordiality at Work........
Courtesy can be said to be a polite gesture between two or more people conversing over a matter.
Cordiality can be said to be warmth, sincerity and friendliness that is shown when conversing with one another.

Over time, it has been discovered that official relationship between Administrators and Teachers sometimes are not so good and one can easily notice them within the school.

As an Administrator, the complex nature of needs and preferences using people, especially those at subordinate level of any organization; calls for courteous communication.

Courtesy balances between cordiality and tact.
Tact can be said to be the ability to deal with embarrassing situations carefully and without doing or saying anything that will annoy or upset other people; careful consideration in dealing with others to avoid giving offense; the ability to say right thing.

For Administrators to be effective the e communication style cannot be ignored, effective communication cannot take place without conscious use of tact, courtesy, cordiality.

Courtesy can be killed during a conversation through:

Sarcasm: A form of humor that is marked by mocking with irony, sometimes conveyed in speech with vocal over-emphasis. Insincerely saying something which is the opposite of one's intended meaning, often to emphasize how unbelievable or unlikely it sounds if taken literally, thereby illustrating the obvious nature of one's intended meaning. This is when the administrator dwells on the flimsy side of interpersonal relationship and he/she makes statements about their teachers carelessly. Administrators that are mutually close to a particular staff should not use that ground to talk anyhow to the staff.

Insults:To offend someone by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront someone. Unintentional insults and indirect insults are usually used frequently in replies given by administrators and teachers

Talking down: The use of didactic and instructional tone in letters, memo or words. For example, "In a decent decent and Outstanding school like ours, Mrs Bimbo......" This is  Mrs Bimbo is not decent and outstanding....
The listener is raging right inside if her, some teachers too will give back that insult too and we will start hearing their voices trying to overpower the other.

Presumptuousness: Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions they are every where about everyone. Making a decision based on assumption is what is wrong, very wrong as most assumptions are not true. As an Efficient administrator and Teacher put away all assumptions of your subordinate and superiordinate. We need to really check if the assumptions are true by giving the teacher a trail at a task and supervision must be done fairly. Also, assumptions of the confidence and capabilities of a teacher does not mean supervision should not be carried out.

Over-familiarity: Hmmmm.... This exist a lot in our schools as we helped our  distant cousin, church members, sisters friends, etc get the job, so they don't concur to an official relationship between you and them they just want to do the things they casually do to you again at work which is wrong, we need to let them know again that at work our relationship is strictly official and any form of discrepancies with that there is a consequence to that.
Or else they will mess our jobs and we will end up achieving nothing at the end of the day.

Whining: One who whines about perceived problems; a complainer. So administrators seems to be only good at complaints and never will hear a suggestion from them, they complain in  such a way that it seems there is nothing good about the job done or the teacher himself. When complaints are more than compliments it encourages stubbornness and resolute personality among the teachers and the simple task becomes more tedious to achieve. Some Administrators say "you ought yo know better", it makes the Administrator blind to Situational dictations and group dynamics.

Curtness: This is a state of been Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude. It means one is Short or concise unnecessarily when discussing with someone, talking arrogantly, withholding some apart of the information which leads to inordinate brevity of the discussion. The teacher feel the administrator shows no concern for possible personal reasons.

Suspicion: Suspicion is a feeling or terse, especially to the point of being rude.
Short or concise doubt, distrust which is usually imaginary. As an administrator always suspecting your surbodinates' motives will surely show in your attitude when one is with the teacher. If What is  being suspected of seem to be true, then it should be addressed in a face-to-face discussion or a meeting that allows for better understanding of both the teacher and the situation.

Accusations: Courtesy is sacrificed at the center of every accusations because the language is often fouled by bitter reaction to perceived misbehavior. This will surely happen in our school.... Using courtesy, tact, discretion, wisdom to handle issues bring out the truth easily; Anger will not, make enough findings before making any decision... So we don't make the wrong decisions.

As an administrator you are not to be predictable, dogmatic. Different situations require different strategies, so do each employee requires different communication and relational skill when dealing with them, and this makes us an excellent, effective, efficient Administrator. Our teachers too will be happy to work with us!

And our school will be great altogether!

Isn't this essential?

An essential thing that should be present in any educational institution is a LIBRARY..... It basically consist of Books, the Personnel, the Building and the users.

What is so essential about it
We get information there anytime we need them

It allows for inquiry method of learning -where individuals learn all by themselves, when curious about something
It encourages accidental learning and enlarges the horizon of the learner
Allows for further research, questions, solutions
It boost the problem-solving instincts of our wards
It helps to foster intuitive thinking in the classroom


What does it take to have a library:

A spacious, well ventilated, well positioned and quiet room
A role of  nice and durable shelves arranged as letter 'U' or letter 'E' with spacious walkways
A librarian to oversee the library
Library organogram showing authority chain
Library assistant to check on library users if they are not breaking the library rules and regulations
Front desk personnel to keep records of everyone that come to use the library
Someone to always return used books to their rightful place neatly on the shelves
We need a neatly demarcated tables and individual chairs to encourage privacy in the library
Library rules and regulations, and air fresher
A photocopy machine to make copies of pages of books that the students needs information from
An air-conditoner, constant power supply
Another sections with computers and Internet service to access E-books, online books
A printer to also print some needed pages
Books, Encyclopedias, World books, World Record books, magazines in the library - for both the students/wards and the teachers
Teachers copy of textbooks  should be kept there, books on understanding an age range(toddlers, teenagers, pre-teens, etc)
One need to use a number code or letter code to code the way books are arranged on the books shelves
Have a plan to buy at least 2/5 books every 3months to update the library

While i was in school i loved the Library much than my classroom, i spent about 40% of my school hours in the library. I have been late to the classroom severally because i was in the library, i have missed classes because i was in the library.

Whenever i go into the library i am very curious, but when am leaving the library am more confident, my mind works faster,up my head is up because i now understand better.

The library was my hostel room in my school days, i wasn't leaving in the hostel, so when my friends where leaving the lecture premises for the hostel, i will also say am going to "my hostel" with a wink, with them knowing am going  the Library till its evening, before i leave for home.

I love Libraries! Am sure there are students/ wards in your school that their heart yearns for a school library and they don't have one......

Schools, learning does not only takes place in the classrooms only!

I love my Profession

Endless giver, Father and mother of multitude Rendered talkative By wisdom and knowledge Detribalized by The makeup of their classrooms… Moulding characters, Pushing talents, Kneading personalities and Adding knowledge. By Nje mjika symphorosa N. A.

The character builders, In all human race, From infancy Till requiem mass. Teachers, To some perfidious To other collusive Posterity will be their judge In their deportment of longevity They were denied their Fundamental right Guerdon in high heaven they say They need their per diem Here on earth As they can only eat Their recoil the therapy here on earth. By Sonde agbochenu aboh

I LOVE my profession………………… do you LOVE yours ?

20th World Teacher's day 2014

When, local time: Monday, 6 October 2014 - 10:00am to Tuesday, 7 October 2014 - 8:30pm Where: France, Paris Type of Event: Category 8-Symposium Contact: wtd@unesco.org World Teachers' Day open Forum "Teaching Today" Open Forum on "Teaching today: an international overview of professional development and conditions of work" for the 20th anniversary of World Teachers' Day. The Day commemorates the adoption of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers. UNESCO encourages local activities which can be promoted on www.worldteachersday.org map The forum will bring together teachers, researchers, experts (including UNESCO Chairs and university professors), students (teacher training institution, Education Sciences), representatives from teacher training institutes, education and teacher organizations, specialized media.

It aims to provide as much discussion between speakers and participants as possible. The forum will include four parallel participative workshops: . Teachers’ living and working conditions . Teachers’ continuous professional development . How ICT can support teacher training . Pedagogical innovations in education. At the end of the two-day open forum there will be a free concert by Toumani and Sidiki Diabate, a father and son duo that embodies perfectly the transmission of knowledge and the beauty of teaching. On 7 October a webcast will take place from 11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. on «Teachers for the 21st century» and at 3-4:30p.m. for the conclusions of the workshops and forum.

Top Notch School Event

S

chool Events are those activities that we have like an award ceremony, End of session party, Carol Service, Open Day, Cultural day, Children's day and the likes.

School events are actually a means of publicizing your school, it tells me what kind of school this is, where this school is going in the nearest future.

Parents gets to invite other parents, child's family relations get to come around, societal figures may come, it may get to be on the Internet, etc as the world is going global etc.

With all this we wouldn't want to leave a wrong or bad impression on the hearts on everyone.

We need to identify :

What kind of event are we holding?  ( is it end of session, PTA night, Children's day, etc)

Outline WHY do we want to hold this event? (Aims, objectives, goals, of the event)

Who are we expecting at our event? ( list out all the names of the invitees and they must be relevant to the goal of the event)

How long will this event take? ( is it in Hours/ days/weeks? )

Who can handle the planning of this event well amongst all the available hands with me? ( maybe a teacher, head teacher, who is best at event planning that will all become a member of the events planning committee after identifying them, your number of committee is dependent on the size of the event, elect the proactive, efficient member to assist the Chairman of the Committee, or to Chair the Committee)

The Committee are to identify:

What do we need to have a successful event( the relevant resources needed to meet the outlined goal of the event - the colours, environment, location, venue, Master of Ceremony (MC), programme of the day, food, decoration, power supply, gifts, security,music, etc)

How do we get them?

How much will they cost?

Draft a budget for the event?

Send an invites to all the invitees

Assign tasks to carried out by other member of the committee

Give deadlines ( not so long) to every assigned task and ensure follow up on the individuals daily, weekly

Hold Frequent meetings to get feedbacks, make corrections, evaluate and chart the course again, create social media platform to encourage seamless communication amongst committee member

Sender Reminders to Invitees a week before

A DAY TO THE EVENT
Identify the time the event is actually starting

Contact the Master of the Ceremony (MC)

Go the event center/ hall ensure the place is ready for the next days program

Go with a Checklist of what ought to be ready and tick the ones that have been done, work more on what is not done yet.

On the D-DAY:
Go with the checklist again, check all over again

Everything should be ready an 1hour before the event start

who is in charge of what during the event?

Get the Mc available an hour before the event.

Have a BEAUTIFUL event....

Make your EVENT count....

And your School is heading for the top.....

We can do Better

Arise o, Compatriot
Nigeria's call Obey
To Serve our father's land
with love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might....

That is a part of our National Anthem, it says "to serve our father's land with love" .... hmmmm, when we love someone or something we are ready to go the extra mile for the person and  that thing.

"The labour of our heroes past Shall never be in vain...." Hmmmm, some of our past leaders lost their blood and lives as they fought for the things we are now enjoying in Nigeria, so what is wrong with us this younger generation in position of authority to do the right thing......

What do you think our education sector will be on the next few years....

Will Nigerian education would have been better that people from overseas will fly in to study in Nigeria rather than what it is right now?

Will it be that only private schools will be up to the standards of the world?

When our very own government owned schools should be a role model.

We need to plan to achieve this with a stipulated day, month, week, year attached to our plans as deadline

I will suggest some solutions to some identified problems of Educational Planning in Nigeria.

The cart before the horse syndrome - This means doing the last thing first. Nigerians we need to always follow due process, and be patient and not boycott the laid down procedures. There ought to be a plan formulation, plan preparation, plan coordination, plan implementation, plan evaluation, etc should be done well efficiently by the appropriate authority dutifully. I would suggest that planning should be done by professional programs and project planners that are independent from external influences.

Unprogressive administrative Traditions: This involves  some subconscious administrative activities that has been in place for a long time in the system but so far it has not helped the system rather it has crippled it. It is high time we do away with irrelevant bureaucracy, nepotism, tribalism, flimsy conflicts, etc within our education system. We need to be re-oreientated on some administrative practices and their impacts on the education system and the economy at large, afterwards  we set up new rules practices and sanctions to inculcate and encourage the new the practices.

Weak Database: Hmmm, it is in our subconscious to always be untruthful with information especially with governmental parastatals, may be because we were once bitten now we are shy (smiles). But for how long do we want to continue like this? We don't have accurate data about all our schools both qualitative and quantitative data. We need to be wise and get information from other means that are connected to schools at different levels through banks, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Birth registrations, external examinations, etc. We need to re-orientate the general public we need to inculcate better values into our society. Wrong data equals wrong planning, wrong planning equals wrong results.

Lack of Public support: We Nigerians we need change right, we need to trust us one more and we will not disappoint you again, we need answers from you, understand your real needs we need your views, what you think, even ideas from you. Educational Planners should partner with reputable organizations, get social support, organize orientations through various available platforms- social Media, conduct online surveys, etc.

Politics: Politics and Education, hmmm we cannot separate politics from the educational system because education is a segment of our political system too. But we need to identify irrelevant and relevant politics in the educational system, in terms that will this politics help or deteriorate the educational system. Yes  we  know that the authorities that decides for our education system is our political systems. We need to evaluate so far has partisan politics help the sector or made it worse.... So far it has made it worse so we need to take a new turn. We can't keep doing the same thing and expect the same results, Nigeria!

Inadequate Resources: Resources like Professional Educational Planners, Professional Curriculum planners and writers, Excellent statisticians, etc. Currently in our Educational system we have so many square pegs in Round holes, people who really are qualified for the Education sector are in other sectors of the economy because this economy has not really made an impact and members of the sector are looked down on. Its high time we only accept round pegs on square holes, square pegs in square holes, Education Professionals in other sectors should please be return to this sector. Also, our personnel should be well motivated not just only those at the very peak of this education sector, all needed and relevant educational resources should be adequately provided at the right time. Our available resources should be judiciously used, not mismanaged.

Proper Implementation  : During implementation process there might be itch, but it is advisable to stick with the plans no matter what. We need People are don't easily change their minds to do this implementation.
It must be regularly inspected, evaluated to know if this is exactly what we took so long to plan.

Our Nigeria Education System can be better, if only we take other directions to aim at a better / same goal.

We actually communicate this... 2

THE WRITTEN WORDS:

It is a very powerful tool, which must be used. This is in 4 parts
a) understanding now this tool functions

b) how to get the best result using this tool

c) discussing the pitfalls one may encounter using this tool

d) the power of this tool when properly used.

It adds permanence to words, it is impersonal, there is time to think and strategize, change can be made and there is a choice of presentation, time, and place.

The receiver can either ignore the message or formulate an action plan to respond to the message. Here there is lack of personal interaction and unlimited power in written word when used constructively.

THE IT WORDS:

Communication can now be done through e-mail, websites, internet, social medium, etc. Speed, machine jargon, abbreviations, and giving common words a new meaning are all combined here.

The intent of the message may get lost in the transmission confusion, it’s worth extra time to be sure your message gets through the way you intend.

Any deviation along the machine will draw the error sign and lead one to spend hours of frustration trying to reach your objective.

It is easy to get lost in detail and forget that there are real people at both ends of the chain, don’t forget to establish a personal touch to establish a good reputation.

Not all data reliable, learn where you can find data you can trust. Don’t forget to strike a balance between what machines contribute and what roles humans play.

EXPERIENCES:

It is rated the number one communication tool in importance and retention, it’s a summation of all the communication tools.

It can be almost anything: thoughts, opinions, pictures, memories, impressions or incidents in your life that become embedded in the mind.

It can be bad or good, nonjudgmental listening and trust are the only ways to bypass or minimize the influence of bad experiences.

Build value into the relationship at every opportunity, when asked to go extra mile, go two.
Note that experiences are very fragile, carefully observe other party’s state of mind, they may be upset, stressed, etc; answer an upset person in a soft and calm way.

Always bury the past and concentrate on solving today’s problems.

We actually communicate this... 1

Communication cannot be avoided along as we are on this planet EARTH and we are breathing, we will always communicate with human beings always ..... When conversing with people,agreeing o na matter,exchanging ideas, talking about any topic, discussing, we also pass other messages through our :

BODY LANGUAGES: 

Smiles are mentally driven, it conveys interest and trust. Fake smiles stand out as such and act as a red light and to your smile add direct eye contact, open hands and arms, full-body supports, positive facial expression.

Learn to understand and interpret people’s body language, use your intuition also.

LISTENING :

“The  Lord gave us two ears and one mouth  so that we would listen at last twice as we talk”. Effective listening is hard work, it takes much more energy and concentration to listen it does to talk. Some people tend to listen with their hearts; others tend to depend on their reasoning. These are basic ways people listen:
a) Passive listening

b) Active listening

c) Judgmental listening

d) Nonjudgmental listening.

             Learn to ask the right question at the right time, carefully observe the other party’s body language, and listen till you understand the other party’s position, don’t rush to give a response, be positive and have fun. It helps to build trust.

 

THE SPOKEN WORDS: 

It is commonly used, rated least effective or dependable of all tools – the way they are used and interpreted. People do these:
a) Half listen and draw the wrong conclusions

b) Hear what they want to hear and forget the rest

c) Misinterpret the words

d) Simply ignore the message

e) Remember part of the message; you can never really be sure what conclusions reside in the other party.
It can be a Person-To-Person Direct contact or Indirect Person-To-Person contact - Telephone conversation or the Spoken words to Group or Large Audience.

To get the best out of this tool:
a) Always start with a well thought-out objective

b) Be sure to present your message in understandable terms

c) Pick your setting (place & environment) to deliver important messages

d) Establish common ground – interest areas of the listener

e) Pay attention to intent as well as to spoken words

f) Show that you care and can be trusted

g) Avoid conflicts and confrontations.

I Don't know this

In Nigeria, here we have over 50 agencies and organisations set up to help the smooth running of the Education System, amongst those multitude these are a few:

TETFUND  - Tertiary Education Trust Fund

It  was established as an intervention agency under the TETFund ACT - Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, etc) Act, 2011; charged with the responsibility for managing, disbursing and monitoring the education tax. Its Mission is to To provide focused and transformative intervention in public Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria through funding and effective project management.

They objective is to  Promote creative and innovative approaches to educational learning and services Stimulating, supporting and enhancing improvement activities in educational foundation areas like Teacher Education, Teaching Practice, Library Development, etc.

Championing new literacy-enhancing areas such as scientific, information and technology literacy.
http://www.tetfund.gov.ng

NANS - 

National Association of Nigerian Students
www.nans.org.ng

NIEPA - Nigerian Institute od Educational Planning and Administration

            

The National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Nigeria domiciled in Ondo town in Ondo State, was established in 1992 by the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNESCO/IIEP Paris, as a sub-regional staff college for West Africa. It seeks to realize its mission through capacity building, continuous training, consulting, action research in educational planning, information dissemination and providing resource centre services.

It is the only capacity building outfit for education sector planners and managers in Nigeria and the sub- region and the only Federal parastatal of Federal Ministry of Education in the south west of Nigeria.

www.niepa-ng.org

NAEC -  Nigerian Army  Education Corps


NCNE -  National Commission for Nomadic Education


ETF - Education Trust Fund www.etf.gov.ng


NAPPS - National Association of proprietors of Private Schools

AIESEC - International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences.

This an international nonprofit organization that provides young people with leadership opportunities to develop themselves into global leaders with an
urge to make a difference in society.

AIESEC provides a platform for students in different universities and colleges, by going on an international internship and/or by joining various local chapters. These young individuals can develop their leadership potential by working and leading teams. Associate membership opportunities allow the students to work with various NGO partners of AIESEC, and represent their college as a part of campus ambassador program.

Each year over members have an opportunity to live and work in a foreign country. Participants can choose to work in areas of management, technology, education, or development; helping to build one’s
corporate skills.

AIESEC annually offers “24,000 leadership positions and delivers over 500 conferences to  its membership of over 90,000 students". It is present in over 2,400 universities across the globe. AIESEC runs an international exchange program that enables over
20,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and intern in another country.” AIESEC is supported by over 8,000 partner organizations.

It has various branches all over the states of Nigeria - Enugu, Calabar, Benue, Lagos, Abeokuta, etc.
www.ng.aiesec.org


COEASU - College of Education Academic Staff Union


SSUCEN -   Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education Nigeria


STVEP -  Skills Training and Vocational Education Project


SBMCs - School Based Management Committees

The establishment of SBMCs is a policy requirement in all schools in Nigeria. The SBMC is a structure representing all key stakeholders of the community working with the school to improve the management and ensure improved teaching and learning for the children.

They represent the participation of the community in school administration and have the potential to transform, sustain education, and promote school governance at the grassroots level.

The SBMC involves the head teacher, teacher representatives, pupil representatives (when appropriate), representatives of the PTA and other stakeholders from the community, including religious and traditional leaders.

SAGEN - Strategy for the Acceleration of Girls’ Education in Nigeria (SAGEN), focuses on Girl Education in the Northern part of Nigeria.

Ministry of Education

Our Federal Ministry of Education situtiated at Block 5A (3rd Floor), Federal
Secretariat Complex, Shehu Shagari Way, Central Area, P.M.B. 146, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria,

Since 1960 till date our almighty Education Sector
has witnessed as head  of the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) the following:

For  7 years Aja Nwachukwu (1958 to 1965)

For  2 years Richard Akinjide (1965 to 1967)

Wenike Briggs (1967 to 1970) for about 2 years

A. Y. Eke (1970 to 1975) about 5 years

Ahmadu A Alli (1975 to 1978) just 1year

G. B. Leton (1978 to 1979) just 1 year

Sylvester Ugoh (1979 to 1982) for 3 years

Alhaji B. Usman (1979 to 1982)

Elizabeth Iyase (1979 to 1982)

I. C. Madubuike (1982 to 1983)

L. A. Bamigbaiye (1982 to 1983)

Sunday Afolabi (September to December 1983)

Alhaji Y. Abdullahi (1984 to 1985)

Alhaji Ibrahim (1985)

Jubril Aminu (1985 to 1989)

Babs Fafunwa (1990 to 1992)

Ben Nwabueze (January 1993 to August 1993)

A. I. Imogie (January 1993 to November 1993)

Alhaji Dongodaji (January 1993 to January 1994)

Iyorchia Ayu (January 1994 to February 1995)

Alhaji Wada Nas (January 1995 to February 1995)

M. T. Liman (February 1995 to December 1997)

Iyabo Anisulowo (February 1997 to December 1997)

Alhaji D. Birmah (December 1997 to June 1998)

A. N. Achunine (December 1997 to June 1998)

Olaiya Oni (August 1998 to May 1999)

Alhaji S. Saadu (August 1998 to May 1999)

Tunde Adeniran (June 1999 to January 2001)

Alhaji Lawam Batagarawa (June 1999 to 2001)

Babalola Borishade (February 2001 to June 2003)

Alhaji Bello Usman (February 2001 to June 2003)

F. N. C. Osuji (July 2003 to February 2005)

Hajia Bintu Musa (July 2003 to June 2005)

Chinwe Obaji (June 2005 to June 2006)

Halima Tayo Alao (June 2005 to 2006)

Grace Ogwuche (February 2006 to June 2006)

Oby Ezekwesili (June 2006 to April 2007)

Sayadi Abba Ruma (June 2006 to April 2007)

Adewunmi Abitoye (June 2006 to May 2007)

Igwe Aja Nwachukwu (June 2007 to December 2008)

Jerry Agada (June 2007 to December 2008)

Hajia Aishatu Jibril Dukku (June 2007 - ?)

Sam Egwu (December 2008 to March 2010)

Ruqqayat Rufai (April 2010 – September 2013)

Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (2014 - Present)

For over 56years the education sector has witnessed 46 heads of an averagely 1.28years in office each. With about 11 women in all, some Ministers we can never forget about, some we don't even know anything about them any longer.

The longest serving Minister of Education in the history of this country was Aja Nwachukwu, who in the “brief shining moments” of Nigeria, spent eight years in the Ministry.

He was followed by Chief A.Y Eke, five years and Prof Jubril Aminu, four years. If you look at the years of political crises, such as 1983, when Shagari’s regime was terminated, and the years following June 12 crisis of 1993 to 1999, they coincide with shortest tenures in the Ministry.  Things began to look up again from June 1999, the return of democracy, when some Ministers spent between two to three years.

One man our education sector and the nation at large can never forget is our very own Late Babatunde Fafunwa of the 1990s, we read of books, journals, etc and we see his comments, suggestions, philosophies that are still some what relevant to our present world..... What a man!

Is that the tenures of the ministers are too short?

Are they square pegs in Round holes?

We say we have moved forward evidently since 1960?

Are the Issues of our Education sectors too big to solve?

Are we not ready to go the extra mile?

Is it the Constant Change of Government that is our issue?

Why this sector is not improving unlike every other sector of the economy is a huge  concern to us.....

How long should a minister spend in office, or is there no particularly during of years in Office?

Is it that Politics is interfering in our sector?

Nigeria which way to go?

What it takes to be a teacher?

A teacher they say is expected to be an epitome of knowledge, creative, inspiring, motivating, a Role Model, just to mention a few.

We are challenged in terms of :

TIME: Most of  our time is spent on school work- writing lesson plans, thinking of institutional media, marking home works, test, examination scripts, observing kids, making evaluations, member of a School committee, ensures discipline,do publicity for our school sometimes, take kids on excursions, visits to places, etc.
We hardly have time to look after ourselves although people in other sector thinks we have more time than they do.

WORKLOAD: The workload of teaching as it involves research, mastery of the topic, directing classroom activities,understand facts, realities of the society, the concepts of each topics and its dynamics - whether Abstract or concrete, understand the values of the society and how it can be related to the topic, etc.


LOW PAY : We are the least paid, with no regular salary, no special bonuses, no extra time pay, least appreciated by parents and School Management. When there is a slight issues between us and parents the school authority would prefer to only hear from the parents and all they do is sack us straight away, if everyone should be sacked at every little mistake they make, no Good teacher would be teaching today. Employers think they are helping us by giving us employment.... Hmmmm.
Even parents detests us to a great extent having seen the way school management treat us.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT:  After getting lesson plan ready, we have to ensure the classroom is well arranged with the needed materials, kids are not in danger, learning is achieved, kids are not fighting, kids are participating in teaching learning procedure, ensure the class is neat and condusive for learning.


COMMITTEE: We are also active members of the various school committee - school events, yearly activities, Teacher's welfare, etc.  We are expected to also give in our very best, we organize school events, school outings, etc.


PARENTS & COMMUNITY :  We ensure that we have cordial relationship with the parents as well as the community because we are in many ways representing our school within our community.


After doing all this and lots more, we are the least paid and appreciated.

Over the Years these trends remain, Nigeria is 54 years Old today
We need make up our minds as Good Nigerians not to :

Never look down on our Teacher's

Please always respect and honor our Teacher's, we actually train and teacher our professionals in all others sectors of the economy

3;
I would suggest we need;
A labour force to protect unfair  treatment of teachers by their employers

Teacher Labour law to protect our teachers against unruly activities of our Primary and Secondary school teacher mostly from our private School owners

Proper Enforcement of the Teacher Labour Force if they really exist  by honest and diligent Nigerians.

If need be we need to set up laws to has to do with our teachers are work so as to see that we too are truly diligent with our work as we need a revamp of the image of our Profession.

Happy 54th Independence Day NIGERIA !!!!

10 things that are very true

At least five people in this world love you so much that would die for you.

Every night, someone thinks about you before they go to sleep.

When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won’t get it, but if you believe in yourself, sooner or later, you will get it.

At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone even if they don’t like you.

You mean the world to someone.

When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look – you most likely turned your back on the world.

You are special and unique.