My Teaching Experience

 The Afara Leadership Centre organised a service project where undergraduates go to public schools to teach them basic subjects, this year’s school was Wesley Girls College in Yaba. I was one of these undergraduates and a very delighted one, as I had always wanted to teach for the fun of it and being a service project sounded like a bonus for me.

The first day was exciting but when I entered the classroom, seeing a pool of girls made me nervous especially those who left the class once I came in. I introduced myself and explained to them that I only came to help not to replace their teachers. Some of them were willing to learn others were not while others were willing only if their friends were. When I got used to the environment and observed their behaviour I understood that these girls were not as bad as they looked, they were tackling many issues at their young ages.

I noticed that when I showed more concern to their class work and put them through they became friendlier, when I praised them for a work well done they wanted to learn more and the students who left when I entered class returned. The class became less empty each day until four students had to share a tiny bench to listen to my teaching.

When our teaching week was over we must have left an impact on the students but most of all they left an impact on me.

I was upset at first with the inappropriate behaviour of the students but when I got to know them I realised that they go through a lot of things and just act out their frustrations and being in the adolescent stage they are still trying to find themselves, once one understands this it would be easier to teach them. These young girls come from less privileged backgrounds and so much is expected from them at their age. For example, a student that lives in a one room apartment with her mother (who might be a petty trader) and other siblings (especially if she’s the first child) would have so many things in her mind like how to help her mother sell, how to take care of her siblings, where the next meal is coming from etc. She would not care less about the young lady standing in front of her and asking her to pronounce a few words correctly when in a couple of minutes she has to go to help her mother hawk goods on the road. Another case can be a student who is facing psychological trauma from rape or domestic violence she would prefer to pour out her anger on the young teacher and fight with her fellow classmates to express her pain. Another case might be the student who is exposed to violence in her neighbourhood; she might have a tremendous amount of aggression and be ready to “box it out” with her classmates. Due to this I began to understand that despite the conditions these girls live in they try to struggle each day  to find a place where they can feel safe and happy, some feel happy with friends, the teachers or the wrong people and I was glad we could do something to change their view of life being ‘hopeless’. Young girls teaching them made them feel appreciated, one could see it in their eyes and their active participation in class, these girls just need to be assured that people care about them and are there for their benefit.

We can relate this situation to most public schools, the environment does not make it conducive for them to learn properly but with good teachers and people there to encourage them, they can boost their self-esteem and self worth.

A student would not learn properly if the environment was not conducive enough, seeing broken equipment everywhere would relate to broken dreams. No textbook to follow would mean lack of interest. If we cannot change the situations at home, we can make school a safe haven for them where they can learn to cope with life and find that there are also positive ways to live. This is because most of these children act the way they do because they have lost hope in the educational system and no one is willing to help them, they might not ask for it but their very actions show they do need help.

 A simple solution to this problem would be for us to join hands and help the government by providing what is lacking. I know one might say isn’t it the government’s duty? Nevertheless, we should remember that these children are the leaders of tomorrow and we can only reform our country when we reform our children and ourselves. As for the children that take good sound education for granted, I think they should visit one of these public schools it would teach them to be grateful for the life God has given them.