How we cope before graduation

Some people think young people who are actively involved in activism or volunteering are bums or dropouts. But there are actually successful students who are actively involved in youth activism or volunteering. Recently, I interviewed some of these youth on how they are coping academically and found some inspiring stories about their experience. Thus this month, I will be sharing these exciting stories about individuals who have consciously applied themselves to their passion to be distinct in their field. I hope you will be inspired not to allow your schooling interfere with a quality education.

Education and Youth development are areas I developed a keen interest in, mostly as a result of my volunteering experience in the sector and of course reading up and watching interesting presentation like that of Sir Ken Robinson’s School kills creativity (on TED Talk) which focused mainly on the need to revamp the system into one that nurtures instead of undermining creativity. "In the next 30 years, according to UNESCO, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than since the beginning of history." He said.

Reports like this is enough to cause us to do some serious soul-searching on the value our education system is providing and how prepared the sector is to step-up the game. I used to think everything wrong in education was only in the Nigerian system. However, I just realized education reform is something even the developed countries strive to achieve. Nigerians are not the only people on earth frustrated with the decaying education system.

The short stint I had to volunteer in DC Public schools in Washington has reaffirmed the sense of urgency I have always felt—an urgency for stakeholders: to make quality education accessible and affordable to all, to realize classroom education is not enough and for organizations focused on youth development to channel their resources towards directly building capacities at grassroots level instead of limiting efforts to conferences and summits.

I am a strong believer in extra-curricula activities and hands-on job experience to complement the theories we are taught in the classroom. Thus, one of the reasons why I am keen on finding out what other people think. Should our education system focus mainly on the traditional form of education? Is there any value in cooperative learning programs within the education system? Feel free to contribute your valuable opinion to the discourse.

The Nation newspaper