Oshiomhole’s sympathy for fake teachers

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, is by all means an enigma. As an inscrutable man, he is fast developing a reputation as a governor, who likes to engage in melodramatic or theatrical performances that have exposed his inconsistencies.
Only last year, Oshiomhole was caught out in an angry outburst, as he used abusive language to scold a woman, who was selling her wares along a highway in Benin. Oshiomhole was upset that the woman, Joy Ifijeh, had hindered traffic by selling her goods on the roadside. He said the woman also breached Edo State’s laws against street trading. Unable to contain his rage, Oshiomhole ordered his aides to impound the woman’s wares and to take her away from the location.
The real drama unfolded in public when the woman knelt down to appeal to the governor to show compassion. Oshiomhole snubbed her pleas. However, when the woman suggested to the governor that she was a widow and that the governor should forgive her, Oshiomhole exploded in one moment of uncontrolled rage: “You are a widow. Go and die!” It was like a thunderbolt. Some government officials, who accompanied Oshiomhole recoiled in shock.
Oshiomhole’s cold-hearted comment was recorded on digital camera. The way he abused the woman, the language he used and the imprudent manner in which he exploded in public, were all needless. In Nigeria, politicians in position of authority often perceive themselves as tin gods.
Oshiomhole is in the news again. This time, the scale of absurdity of what he did ranks as extraordinary. In 2013, following the shocking discovery of a bizarre situation in which an Edo State school teacher could not read her own age declaration document in full view of a panel that was set up to scrutinise teachers’ credentials, Oshiomhole pledged to clean up the system. That cleaning came in the form of a purge of teachers with dodgy certificates.
When he announced the sacking of the teachers with fake certificates, Oshiomhole said: “We have too many quacks, masquerading as teachers… and it was only natural that I had to find (the) courage to deal with this human element, which makes all the difference.” Unfortunately, Oshiomhole never mustered the courage to deal with the fake teachers. Rather than fire the teachers, he announced his decision to rescind his previous threat. It was a cowardly back down.
By rescinding his previous decision to sack teachers with dubious academic qualifications, Oshiomhole has in essence pardoned corruption. Worse still, the competency test for the state teachers, which was proposed earlier but also revoked, has raised questions about the governor’s decision. An elected state governor, who should serve as a role model, a symbol of ethical conduct and moral authority has openly condoned criminal conduct by teachers in the state’s employment.
Oshiomhole’s behaviour is incomprehensible. State governors are generally perceived (even if incorrectly), as emblems of integrity, decency and probity, who should encourage good behaviour among the citizens. It is hard to understand why the governor reversed his previous position to sack teachers with fake certificates in Edo State, who are holding on to jobs they should never have been given because they lack basic qualifications.
By his decision, Oshiomhole has confirmed that he is presiding over a state in which it is alright for people to commit crimes in public and get away without being punished by the government. It seems that in Oshiomhole’s state where everything goes, crime is not an offence against the state and the people.
In his attempt to justify his unfathomable decision to revoke the sacking of the teachers who possessed forged certificates, Oshiomhole committed even more blunder when he said the decision was taken after he had sounded out various labour unions. What Oshiomhole did not tell the people of the state and indeed the nation was that he did not have the courage to uphold his decision to sack the teachers. No amount of remedial action outlined by the state government to fix the scandal will clean up Oshiomhole’s scruffy image.
You cannot rationalise deliberate fraud by putting in place a sub-standard training programme designed to reduce the severity of a criminal offence committed by school teachers. How can a teacher who lacks basic knowledge in a subject area overcome that deficiency through a short-term training programme? The joke is on Oshiomhole and his government. With fake and unqualified teachers allowed to teach in Edo State schools, the quality of reading, writing and arithmetic has been seriously compromised.
The unvarnished truth is that Oshiomhole cancelled his earlier decision to sack the dishonourable teachers because he is afraid of confronting leading labour unions in the state. Above all, he is worried about the impact the sack of fraudulent teachers would have on his chances of re-election. Political survival and expediency are obviously key priorities for Oshiomhole. No amount of religious sermon or advice on morals will make the beleaguered governor to overrule himself.
Oshiomhole’s principal concern is to be re-elected. This is not surprising. Once politicians taste power and the associated privileges, they are unwilling to relinquish that authority. This is the problem with democracy in Africa. No political leader, president, prime minister, premier or governor wants to step down willingly. Rather than go before they are pushed, political leaders seek ways to abuse the system that brought them to power. Rather than observe the constitutionally approved term, these gutless politicians look for ways to tamper with the constitution in order to extend their tenure.
It must be said academic dishonesty and misconduct is not restricted to Edo State school system. It is common in Nigerian universities and polytechnics. It is prevalent in every state education system. It is a reflection of the rotten nature of our education system and our normless society. When the head of an institution is rotten, what do you expect the junior members to look like? This metaphor extends to Oshiomhole in his capacity as the lily-livered governor of Edo State who is happy to tolerate criminals in the state’s education system.
One of the reasons this fraud in the education system has persisted is the absence of a strict and thorough process for vetting potential staff and their qualifications during recruitment. It is during the hiring process that these pretenders ought to be identified, exposed and thrown out. There should also be regular audit of staff qualifications. This will ensure that those who managed to beat the system during recruitment can still be identified later. They system should make it near impossible for counterfeit staff to be hired and retained.
Oshiomhole has shown lack of guts in his decision to reinstate Edo State teachers, who clearly did not possess the qualifications required for the job. The unmistakeable message to duplicitous school teachers and indeed other employees of the state government, who hold fake qualifications is that in Edo State, criminals, certificate forgers and all manner of fraudulent people are warmly received, celebrated, garlanded and honoured by the state governor.
Every state must outline clear criteria and procedures for hiring teachers and other categories of public servants. It is not enough to set out the criteria; the state must also observe and vigorously enforce the strict standards. Widespread academic dishonesty by teachers helps to imperil quality in teaching, learning and research in educational institutions. Hiring teachers with forged certificates to serve, as dispensers of knowledge to innocent students is possibly the worst form of state institutionalised corruption. No state government should encourage or accommodate fake teachers in its education system.
Teachers in Edo State, who lack academic qualification should not be allowed to teach. To allow them the freedom to teach is to grant them licence to drag the quality of teaching and learning backwards. How can unqualified, unprofessional and ill-informed teachers help to advance knowledge in Edo State? They can only pollute the brains of innocent students.
When students perform badly in examinations conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO), everybody blames the students rather than fraudulent and ignorant teachers, who failed to prepare the students and, therefore, contributed to the poor results. Parents should not allow their children to be taught by illiterate teachers. The situation in Edo State schools where illiterate teachers are employed and sustained by the government is pathetic.
A thorough review of the system of hiring teachers in state schools, not only in Edo State, must be undertaken urgently. I have strong objections to a primary school education system that privileges the hiring and preservation of illiterate teachers over more qualified teachers. If the Edo State primary education system has a set of minimum standards required of anyone, who wants to teach, those standards must be upheld and respected, regardless of whether the system is sick or not. Standards should not be overlooked or lowered simply to gratify teachers, who lack basic qualifications.
Governor Oshiomhole’s acceptance of fake teachers in the state education system does not promote merit or excellence among teachers. It is a moot point to argue that the rot is not limited to Edo State and, therefore, the governor should not be criticised. That argument is unacceptable. It does not make a bad decision good. Oshiomhole’s ill-informed decision has undermined rather than enhanced the calibre of teachers employed by the state as well as the value of primary education in the state.
Fake school teachers in Edo State are planting today the seeds of poor graduate outcomes in the coming decades. It is a terrible experience that should concern everyone, who has an interest in promoting quality in primary and secondary school education. No matter the level at which it occurs, academic dishonesty must not be tolerated.

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