Moshood Oshunfurewa
The free holiday coaching going
on in Ajegunle for students of Senior Secondary school in Anglican Primary
School, located at Arumoh Street via Boundary Road is just one among the many
activities of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) – a campaign platform of the
Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) - to campaign for adequate funding
especially of basic primary and secondary education.
The free coaching is an annual
program that has been sustained in Ajegunle branch of the organization since
its commencement in 2004 and the program has been impacting positively on the
life of children of artisans, unemployed parents and the poor working people of
Ajegunle.
It is an obvious fact that the usual
phenomenon of hardship that characterizes the day to day life of students from
poor working class background is not only peculiar to the slum city of Ajegunle
in Nigeria. Students from poor backgrounds often have to engage in selling of
“pure” water (sachet water), soft drinks, credit unit cards etc. on highways aside
other forms of menial activities during the long holiday so as to earn a penny
to sustain their families during this period which make them exposed to untimely
death, casual sex, rape and other forms of social menace.
This condition of poor working
class youth is not unconnected to the pro-rich capitalist system which in its
blind pursuit of profit places no value on the lives and future of young
people. Instead of using Nigeria’s resources to fund education adequately, all
government does is looting and lip-service. As a result, education remains enmeshed
in age-old crisis: overcrowded classes, absurd teacher students ratio, lack of toilet
facilities and playing ground, dilapidated infrastructures as well as chronic
under funding of education, lack of better teachers welfare packages. Once it
rains in some schools, the next thing is compulsory holiday for the students
and teachers because of leaking classroom roofs and flood.
For instance, a young student of
about 9 years old came to the venue of the coaching while returning from
hawking of “pure” water, asked several intelligent questions regarding the coaching
class. He would only be able to join the coaching next week (week two) as,
according to him, he has to earn his daily bread first! The details of the boy’s
questions show genuine love to learn but the colossal failure of government at
all levels to provide free, quality and compulsory education and anti-poor neo-liberal
policies of the Nigeria capitalist class means the chance of this young boy and
many others like him to get educated is at best precarious.
MOBILIZATION FOR THE FREE HOLIDAY
LESSON
The planning and mobilization for
this year’s free summer coaching has so far been successful. There has been
large turn-out of students. More and more students from Apapa, Orile, Wilmer,
Amukoko and other Ajegunle environs are trouping in for the lesson.
Two thousand copies of flyers
were produced and circulated among the students and parents in the communities
by members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) / Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) and students who are contacts in their respective schools. The
colourful and attractive banner displayed at the entrance of the lesson also
help to draw attention of passerby parents and students to the lesson.
Early data shows average
attendance per day to be 68 for SSS 1, 56 for SSS 2 and 58 for SSS 3. This
makes a total of an average of 182 students per day in the first week of the
commencement of the coaching since August 6th, 2012. This shows tremendous progress as it surpasses
last year’s attendance by 18.95%. This is significant given the fact in the
past one week many students were unable to attend the coaching class because
they had to go to their respective schools to collect their examination
results.
Last Friday, there was a career
and counseling talk with Hassan Taiwo Soweto (ERC National Coordinator) and
comrade Davinovich speaking on ‘Youth and Education’. We also had our first
Volunteer Teachers’ meeting on Saturday. The teacher’s meeting is a democratic
assembly of teachers and members of the DSM/ERC. It takes place every week and
allows teachers to be involved in discussions on how to organize and improve
the coaching.
The free holiday coaching started
about eight years ago. The beauty of this year’s edition of the coaching is
that four of the students who are beneficiaries of the past free summer coaching
are assisting as teachers: Mr Emma, an undergraduate of mathematics in Lagos
State Universities (LASU), Mr Nduka Ebube, an undergraduate student of
chemistry in Imo State University (IMSU) and Mr kolawole Paul and Innocent are
prospective candidates at the respective universities of their choice. Many of
the past volunteer teachers are also on ground for the year’s edition of the
coaching.
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