JAMB coordinator says public schools still offer best teaching

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Coordinator in Nasarawa State, Mr Sunday Aladegbade, has said that government-owned schools offer better teaching services than many private schools.

He said this on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony of the 2017/2018 set of the 107-year-old King’s College in Lagos.

Aladegbade, whose 16-year-old son, Samuel, was among the graduands, said he did not regret sending his child to the college.

He explained that public schools expose children to teachers and colleagues from different parts of the country.

He said, “Sending your child to a public school is still one of the best decisions a parent can make. In any public school, you will meet people who are knowledgeable and those from every nook and cranny place for a child to integrate with other people from every nook and cranny of the country.

“This will also promote the understanding of ethnicity among the children. It will also foster unity because they will be able to mix with people from other ethnic groups. Private schools are good, but there is nothing like a Federal Government-owned institution.”

He urged parents to encourage the government to invest more in education by patronising public schools.

Also, Samuel’s mother, Mrs Ladi, said that, judging by her son’s performance at school, she was convinced that public schools still offered the best.

She said, “Initially I thought that everything had dropped. Samuel had always done very well in his school work.  He was always among the first five pupils in his class. But when he came to King’s College, it was a different ball game. He could take 19th position in a subject where he is on an ‘A’ grade. How will you get ‘A’ in a subject and still be 19th in a class of more than 50 pupils? Then, we knew he was in for more works.”

The Principal of King’s College, Mr Isaac Kolawole, said the pupils’ performances had improved through constant supervision and monitoring of their activities.

He said, “In doing this, we ensured a change of attitude to their environment, academics and lifestyle and, so, there was a shift in the value orientation.

“We also saw the need to sensitise the teachers to their duties, especially in the area of coverage of the syllabus as well as counselling.”