IN MY PRINCIPAL'S SHOES

“Good morning madam” greeted the JSS 2 Class of Sophia Group of schools. “Good morning students. You may have your seat.” said the young principal. “What do you have now?” she asked in impeccable English. “Business studies” the students chorused. “Good. Go and call your teacher.” And with those words, 12-years old Nellie Egun walked off to another class. As part of her responsibilities as a principal, she was making her morning rounds to the various classes to ensure that activities are going as smoothly as they should.

Twelve years old Nelli Egun was awarded the school super-hero of Sophia Academy after emerging winner of the weekly school quiz competition that was held for the term. One of her prizes included serving as the first one-day principal of the school. Asking about her experience as a student in a principal’s shoe, she says “It has been fun. This morning I made some announcements on the assembly and went round the classes to ensure that things are going smoothly.” To be an outstanding student in all ramifications, Nellie encourages her peers to be current about what is going on in the society. “Read wide and read newspapers in order to be up to date and knowledgeable about general issues.” She said.

For Mrs. Dupe Ajayi, the Principal of Sophia Group of schools, the idea of awarding super-hero to students every term is to encourage them to sit up and be competent in every field of knowledge. “We do this by engaging them in healthy competitions called who wants to be a hero. The quiz covers their curriculum as well as current affairs.”

“The first super-hero is not just an excellent student in academics but also an excellent student morally and in other areas of life. From our record, everything about Nellie stands her out, thus other students are encouraged to emulate her and conduct themselves well because leadership is something you work for and not something you steal.”

She encouraged the Nigerian students to fear God in order to walk in wisdom. On the challenges of today’s education system, Mrs. Ajayi said “The only challenge we have now is that there is no much emphasis on moral studies. In our days moral study was an important aspect of our curriculum. We need to return to our first love which is the love of God. Our curriculum is faulty because we are trying to copy others when we don’t have the right infrastructure. The government needs to start looking inward and stop talking from the two sides of their mouth when implementing new policies.”