• It’s platform for holistic development, says Ogunyemi, TASUED don

By Gabriel Dike

Florence Ogunyemi, Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ogun State, has shared her views on issues including early childhood education, out of school children crisis, lack of interest in teaching profession by the youths and how to make the teaching profession attractive.

He spoke with Daily Sun. Excerpts:

What are your concerns about the government’s attitude to early childhood education?

Early childhood education covers children from age 0 to eight years. It is the foundation for physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual development of the children. That is why we call it the platform for holistic child development. Despite the benefits of Early Childhood Care and Development Education to children all over the world, it is still not being sufficiently prioritised in Nigeria. No commitment to this level of education is noticed from government.

 

Yes, the National Policy on Education recognises this level of education by making one year kindergarten education for children of age five part of the nine-year basic education, its implementation still remains at the experimental level in our public schools. There are many factors that are facing the full implementation of the policy. These include inadequate funding, limited teacher training, poor supervision, lack of effective monitoring and poor evaluation strategies.

Many of the public primary schools lack structured ECCDE sections. This invariably makes the private sector to dabble into it as a money-making venture, thus making it difficult for children from poor homes to access. Looking at the benefits children could derive from early childhood education, it should be made accessible to all children irrespective of gender, socio-economic status of parents, location, religion, tribe or any form of special needs. If this is put in place, children’s foundation for mental, social, moral and physical developments would be fully enhanced.

Why is it important to promote early childhood education?

Since it is a known fact that children overall development can be fully achieved if exposed to Early Childhood Education or ECE, it is very important to promote it. Not just that, promoting it will be of help in laying foundations for children’s literacy and numeracy achievement. It will as well prepare them for further and long-term academic performances (as stated in the National Policy on Education, 2013). Their emotional and social skills will be well developed and our children would grow to become more responsible citizens.

Nigeria is rated among countries with the largest populations of street children in the world. With effective implementation of the Free, Universal and Compulsory Basic Education,  including ECE, there would a drastic reduction in out-of-school children phenomenon in the country. Through this level of education, children would be able to grow and develop to contribute their own quota to national productivity in later years having received an all-round development from a tender age.

In fact, while addressing the issue of early years, the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), in their recent gathering in Lagos, February 28, 2026, mentioned that the development of Nigeria’s youngest citizens should be a priority. I strongly agree with the position of CBAAC that ECCDE should not be treated as social welfare but as economic infrastructure. In a nutshell, investing in ECE would make Nigeria record a sound educational outcome of its citizens and this will bring about a multiplier effect including high economic returns.

Government agencies insist there is a shortage of teachers. Do you agree?

This is true. Going by data from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), it has been noticed that there is a huge gap in the quality and quantity of teachers in our schools most especially in science and technology related subjects as well as in the rural areas. Teachers are not evenly distributed within urban and rural areas.

Most teachers prefer working in the urban centres because of lack of basic amenities such as electricity, pipe borne water and decent accommodation in our rural communities.  Also, there is lack of or inadequate professional development programmes for teachers. Teachers also suffer from poor salaries especially in the private schools and this lowers their morale.

Youths are shying away from teacher education courses. What is the implication?

A cursory look at statistics from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board indicates very little interest of youths in education courses. Personal interviews with my students at TASUED, also buttresses this. Most of the students especially in my department, Early Childhood Education, confirmed that they did not choose education as a programme in JAMB but had to accept it because they did not want to keep on writing JAMB.

This attitude towards the teaching profession surely has great implications. Teaching is being looked down at because the young ones think it is not financially rewarding and teachers are not respected in the society. When brilliant students are not motivated to embrace the teaching profession, it leads to reduction in the quality of teachers, shortage of teachers, overstay of old teachers in the system and so on.

Will the government’s stipend policy for COE students change the situation?

If government policy on stipends for Colleges of Education students is maintained, it will further motivate students’ interest to enroll in education programmes. This used to be the case in the 1970s and early 1980s when students enrolled in Teachers’ Grade II Colleges, Advanced Teachers’ Colleges, and Faculties of Education in Nigeria were being given monthly stipends as part of the implementation of the Federal Government Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme launched by the then General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976.   

However, this could be a short-term thing because additional efforts are required to retain such teachers on the job so that they don’t use teaching as a stepping-stone to the so-called more lucrative jobs. To really change the situation, there is need to sensitise people to respect the profession, provide better working environment for teachers while their salaries should be improved upon right from the point of graduation.

Has the conversion of colleges of education to universities attracted more students?

This new development has actually brought a kind of prestige to the institutions, which has in turn attracted many students to choose the institutions in JAMB. This I could say was witnessed in my university when it metamorphosed into a university over twenty years ago and especially with the recent transformation to a Federal University. This to me does not mean automatic improvement in the teacher education programmes. Efforts should go beyond this as I have mentioned earlier.

Can you share an unforgettable experience with a student in the lecture hall?

An experience I can never forget was with a 100 level student who came in late into the lecture hall, dressed in tattered jeans, half-buttoned shirt and tainted hair. He entered with so much confidence, believing that he was exercising his freedom and rights to wear anything in the university. Instead of being angry at him and allowing him to disrupt the lecture, I pretended as if he was not seen and allowed him to sit and attend the lecture.

After the lecture, I invited him to my office for a private conversation. In our discussion, I managed to explain the university rules and regulations in respect of appearance and general conduct. All these were done in a motherly manner. I tried to let him understand the importance of being a good ambassador of his family and the university.

After some time, I noticed he had changed. Today, not only that he dresses formally and neatly, he has also become one of the students who help in giving orientation to new students on university ethics. He also organises tutorials to assist his classmates and new students in their courses. This experience taught me that with patience, proper guidance and understanding, one can have positive impact on students.

Students’ use of AI for assignments and projects—your experience?

The use of AI is becoming rampant among students especially in doing assignment and writing projects/dissertations and theses. Some of them used it wisely to generate ideas, support their research and for grammatical improvement. However, a lot are using it without fully understanding its contexts. To reduce the incidence of abuse, we usually expose students to oral defence of their assignments/projects in the class where instant evaluation is made. We subject their works to AI assessment and anything above 25% or so is rejected.

We give students critical thinking tasks and encourage project-based learning, which we are doing in my department at TASUED to further help our students build on their potentials. Further more, there is need to incorporate AI application into the curriculum as we have just done in our department and the proposed Primary Education programme to allow students learn the ways it could be used and the ethical dimensions of its usage.

Are universities producing enough postgraduates in teacher education to replace older lecturers?

Not at all. Going by the retirement rate, it is quite inadequate. The ‘Japa syndrome’ is greatly affecting the system because of scholarship and work opportunities attached to enrolment for postgraduate programmes in foreign countries. With these trends, universities are left to do business with those who may not really be interested in postgraduate studies or the teaching profession. 

Government should provide incentives for doctoral students in terms of scholarships and Assistant Lectureship position where they are studying to attract and retain best and the brightest.

Out-of-school children are alarming. How can this be tackled?

Globally, Nigeria is among the countries that are having the highest rate of out-of-school children. To combat this big problem, efforts should be made to increase school infrastructure, engage communities on the need to send their children to school especially in the rural areas, improve security in the conflict-prone areas. The issue of poverty should be addressed more closely because some parents claim that they cannot afford to feed and clothe their children talk less of sending them to school. Cultural and religious practices such as discrimination against girl-children and the Almajiri phenomenon in northern Nigeria should be given the necessary attention to remove obstacles to school access by all Nigerian children. Overall, there must be huge collaboration among the stakeholders – communities, state governments and UBEC to see to the full implementation of the Universal Basic Education Act.

If appointed Minister of Education, what reforms would you introduce?

If appointed as a minister under the Federal Ministry of Education, my main focus would be on at least six critical areas. First, UBEC shall be strengthened to ensure that it fully delivers on its mandate as a foundational agency for quality education in the country. Secondly, there shall be increased funding of education at all levels. Education must be given high priority in the country’s annual budgets at the Federal, State and Local Government levels in line with United Nations Fund for Population Education’s (UNFPA) recommendation of 15-20% for developing countries like ours. However, we should leverage technology to track funds release in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursement of the funds.

In the third place, there would be full implementation of the Teacher Professionalisation Act. Professionalising teaching like other professions must be intensified through the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). Prof. Segun Ajiboye did a lot of work while he was the Registrar of TRCN. The momentum should be sustained especially with respect to professionalising tertiary education lecturers as done in the Western countries. The fourth thing I would like to see is the promotion of inclusiveness in our educational institutions. Inclusive education must be integrated in our educational system at all levels. There must be provisions to back it up in terms of adequate infrastructure, qualified teaching and supporting staffs and other requirements that would make all children learn comfortably irrespective of their special needs. This does not leave out the out-of-school children and effective adult literacy and non-formal education.

In the fifth place, I would like to address the issue of take-home pay for teachers. The Teachers’ Salary Scale (TSS) shall be fully implemented especially with respect to allowances for teachers in rural areas. The teacher’s salary and other emoluments shall be increased and renewed every three years to further bring prestige and stability to the profession. Finally, I would ensure that the issue of proliferation of educational institutions, from the pre-primary to the university levels, is curbed. Sub-standard schools or universities remove from the quality education rather than add to it. It is a good thing that the Federal Government recently placed an embargo on the establishment of new universities in the country. In the same vein, State Governments should take a critical look at the way and manner private nursery and primary schools are mushrooming.

UBEC would need to work closely with State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to put a stop to this trend.  Above all, there must be a strong political will, full inputs of all stakeholders and proper funding of education to make every dream for the education sector, like any other sector in the country, come to reality and be sustained.

Tell us briefly who Prof. Florence Ogunyemi is?

I was born in Ibadan, Oyo State. I attended the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, where I obtained a B. Ed in Pre-primary and Primary Education/English language (1993) and M.Ed (1998) and PhD (2012) in Pre-Primary and Primary Education/Early Childhood Education.

I began my academic career at the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, in 1996. I transferred my services to the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode at the take-off of the university as lecturer I in 2005. I rose through the ranks to become a Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the university on October 1, 2020.

What have been your contributions to your field of study?

I have been involved at both the administrative and academic lines since I joined the university. I was a Director of Tai Solarin University of Education Human Resource Development Centre (TAHUREC), through which we were able to train public primary school teachers in Ogun State under the Federal Government/UBEC Professional Teacher Development Programme between 2014-2015. I was also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from 2015 to 2017 at the University of Johannesburg where I was engaged in workshops, seminars and training of ECCDE teachers with the support of UNICEF.

While in South Africa, I published some independent and collaborative research works including “Work and play in early childhood education:  Views from Nigeria and South Africa “The Role of play in child development in Africa: Past and present,” and “From traditional learning to modern education: Understanding the value of play in Africa’s childhood development”. These and other published research reports are being cited globally on daily basis. I am a member of many national and international professional associations in my field of study.

Such professional affiliations include Philosophy of Education Association of Nigeria (PEAN), Curriculum Organisation of Nigeria (CON), South African Research Association for Early Childhood Education (SARAECE), South Africa Education Research Association (SAERA), and International Society for Early Intervention (ISEI) United States of America. I served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Early Childhood Association of Nigeria (JECAN) since 2023 and we have produced the academic research outlet as at when due.

The post Early childhood education appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.