Today, on the 26th anniversary of the passing on of my father, Joseph Olanrewaju Gbadegesin, and in appreciation of his acute understanding of the responsibility of parents to educate the children they bring into the world, I provide an update on my 30 months old piece on family involvement in education. It is a befitting tribute to a man who gave all for the education not just of his children, but also of close and distant relations.
My 2013 piece on Family Involvement in Education was part of a series on education in which I argued for the need to bet on our innocent children who we voluntarily choose to bring into the world. I submitted that we bet on them when we create a future that is worthy of them and the country which they in turn can be proud to call theirs.
I observed that we create that future by investing in their education from the cradle so that from the first time they open their eyes, they see a nation that cares and educates, just as they behold the love of an extended family of mother, father, siblings, uncles, aunties and grandparents who first welcome them with loving hands and cheerful faces.
The observation that it takes a village to raise a child is as African as the origin of the human race. This is why the entire neighbourhood and the web of extended family members take time to nurture the child because therein lies a bright future for all. But as our people also understand, there has to be a demarcation of ownership in a matter of joint property.
Parents have to take effective ownership of family responsibility in the education of their children. And this has always been our tradition even in the pre-colonial days when our focus was on practical education for skills that were considered essential for a successful life—farming, trading, crafts and family professions.
Parents secured apprenticeship for their children and developed good relationships with the masters training their kids. And when “western education” was introduced, in spite on their deficit in that area of knowledge, many parents understood that the future of their children was in the hands of the teacher and the school. So they got involved in various ways.
The moment I was conscious of being a human being with needs was the moment I noticed my father’s willingness to invest in my future with his taking interest in everything educational. That willingness was put to a stressful test in December 1957 when it appeared that I was going to stay at home for at least one year after completing primary school. His wish for me to attend the newly- established Baptist High School, Shaki was thwarted because a trusted teacher had mishandled the application fees of all sixth graders in my school. There wasn’t going to be an alternative. But my father found a way out!
My dad and his friend, Pa Salawu Omotosho, the father of Iyabo Salawu (later Mrs. Ojeleye) decided to try their luck for their son and daughter respectively. They placed each of us on their bikes and rode to Ipapo, then Okaka, and back to Okeho, covering more than 20 miles. They had no luck as all the schools were fully enrolled! Their final hope was Baptist Secondary Modern School, Koso, Iseyin and with the help of his pastor, my father got both of us admitted. That was a moment of great joy for him and he made the most of it.
My father was fully involved in my education, never missing a Parent-Teacher Association meeting of my schools, and even after I left the schools, he still attended those meetings. For his and his fellow parents, just as there are student alumni, there are parent alumni with responsibilities to be involved.
A self-taught reader and writer, dad was always proud when he would converse with me in English language in the presence of his friends. In my student days away from home, I always enjoyed reading his letters in what I thought then was an archaic, cursive writing until my children had to learn cursive in the elementary school in the United States.
I followed my father’s example almost to a fault. While he had no choice but to let me leave home for higher education, since there was no secondary school or secondary modern school in Okeho after my completion of the primary school, I had a choice, and my wife and I decided in favour of keeping our children close to us. All our children gained admission to the popular Unity Schools when those schools were supposed to be the best. But we decided that they would be better off with us if we were actively involved in their schooling.
We chose to be active in the Parent-Teacher Association of Moremi High School, Ile-Ife, a public school located on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University. I served as the chairman for a couple of years. I knew that the school had dedicated workers led by Deacon J. A. Ogunwuyi, who is now a proprietor of his own school. And of course, my children still tell tales of how hard it was for them in the house when they had to study for several hours a day.
The point is that a school is what its clientele make it and these include teachers, students and parents.
The literature on parental involvement in education is convincing. There is copious evidence that when the family is actively involved in the education of their children, it has a positive influence on the achievement of the children not only in school but throughout life because it enables them not only to do well in examinations and earn good grades, but also to develop better social skills.
Initiating and nurturing family involvement in the education of children is a double-lane approach by parents and schools because there is a lot at stake for both, but certainly more for the parents. A school where accountability is taken seriously and where there are consequences for failure would leave no stone unturned in getting all hands on deck for successful students’ outcomes.
On the other hand, parents know that the future of their kids, and their own happiness and peace of mind are at stake. They therefore have a lot more reason to get involved. Careers are important, but as the elders remind us, the probability is very high that a child that is inadvertently left untrained and unskilled may end up destroying whatever legacy an illustrious career has succeeded in building. This is just as true of children that are spoilt on account of parental negligence.
Surely, not all parents have the patience, skills, or self-confidence that are essential to an effective involvement on all fronts. A parent may not be able to offer direct help for a child’s home work. This is where the entire family structure has to be deployed.
We take pride in our communal orientation. We create the phenomenon of aso-ebi. And it has also been our tradition for community organisations to get involved in the education of their members. I recall with utmost gratitude the motivation and inspiration that I received from the Okeho Literary Progressive Union, which organised after-school tutorials, as my friends and I prepared for the Primary School Leaving Certificate examination in 1957.
The spirit of community engagement must be revived in all our villages, towns and cities. It is doable. What it requires is a new orientation that privileges the very idea of community which our urban-centred individualism has jettisoned. Then what one lacks, others can supply and together we can build a new coalition of committed family and community for the education of our children.
After 26 years, I believe that Olanrewaju has rested in perfect peace. His children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nephews, nieces and cousins are always appreciative of a life well lived.
Barka de Sallah!
NATION
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