Teachers’ schools and training are considered to be highly essential and relevant to maintaining quality education within a society.

What then happens when the learned are positioned to carry out the responsibilities of the trained? Conversing with professional teachers, I was made to understand that they are trained to know the psychology of teaching students, varying from children to adults.

This teaching job is not as easy as most of us assume it to be. It has been said that a trained teacher may end up knowing the children more than their parents would put together. Thus, these teachers are trained to have a “relationship” with their students, which eventually results to imparting knowledge and exchange of cordial friendship.

Now, so because we have a system that requires its plenty graduates to render national service for a year, is enough reason to throw them to our classrooms?

Corps members may have the degree, yes; but forgetting that the training requirement that qualifies an individual to stand and teach before a classroom is lacking.

Could this be the reason why our WAEC results have been awfully represented? I found out that a corper who served in Lagos taught both English language and Literature to student in JSS 1 to SSS 3 and was made exam officer of the school. Now the corp member may be highly knowledgeable on both subjects, but the question is, does he possess the skills required to communicate these knowledge to the students?

Maybe corpers should undergo some sort of training before they storm into classrooms and if that arrangement cannot be met, then another alternative should be considered because one cannot be too certain if corpers are fit to teach.

Dinah Adams @didiYargata Yargata’s Blog