Schools

Education is a very important aspect of our lives especially as children. Proper education affords us the chance at a better life and gives us the ability to better understand and assimilate as we interact and socialize.

In my country, the education system is a mixture of privately owned schools and the schools that are run by the government which is also found in the aspect of higher institutions.

Currently, there has been a significant rise in the number of privately owned schools in the entire country. It used to be a thing that was difficult to come across and even if one did come across it, the fees were usually exorbitant making only the wealthy ones or the ones who could afford to pay high fees to enroll their wards in a private school.

These days, there are private schools everywhere. Each walking distance has at least two privately owned schools one would come across.

It wasn't always like this and it was as a result of the poor state of the government schools which prompted individuals to found private schools so as to afford students quality education.

• WHICH OF THE SCHOOLS DID I ATTEND?

I have attended both government schools and privately owned schools and it's been sort of a roller coaster for me because of the way I kept switching.

The Nursery school I attended was a private school. The school's main focus at the time was Nursery education and Primary education, they hadn't a high school yet because they were just starting out.

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I was able to start and finish my Nursery education there before my parents withdrew me from the school and due to finances, enrolled me in a government primary school where I got my Primary education.

After my Primary education, my mother had the mind to enroll me in a government junior high school in the neighborhood where we lived but all efforts to get me transferred proved abortive as I couldn't make it to the school I was posted to everyday without breaking down. It was going to spell doom on my health and we didn't want that.

Eventually, I got enrolled in a private junior high school which gave me joy because I knew it'd have been hard to cope with the pace of a government school. I don't think I had it in me to keep up.

After I completed junior high, my mom again tried to enroll me in a government senior high school to complete my education but as fate would have it, the transfer didn't work out except on the condition that I repeat the previous class before they would be able to accept me as a student.

That was a huge NO on my part and my parents' part. It was like taking two steps forward and four steps backwards.

When the new session began, I was enrolled in a privately owned senior high school and that was where I finished my secondary education till I graduated.

After my secondary education, I applied to a Federal University which is of course owned by the government where I am currently studying.

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I had the option of applying to a private university but the fees are really high compared to Federal Universities and it wouldn't have helped me at all.

• BENEFITS OF BOTH TYPES OF SCHOOLS

Both government owned schools and privately owned schools have advantages and disadvantages and it depends on each person's perspective.

Government schools use certification to employ their teachers which means for one to become a full time employee, it'd be somewhat a long process. There are documents that serve as proof that a person is qualified to teach and this is a guarantee that the teachers would teach the students properly and that students would get quality education from qualified teachers.

Most of these private schools that sprung up don't take the time to properly employ teachers which could be due to finances (it's always that actually) because they know that qualified teachers come at a price, many hire semi qualified teachers and the students get to suffer it in addition to paying sometimes exorbitant school fees.

I was a victim and it pained me greatly.

Government schools offer ease on one's finances. No fees are paid except for books which are actually very cheap because the books are published by the government and distributed to all the government schools across the state. As a result of this ease, parents flock to the schools to have their wards enrolled which makes government schools overpopulated.

Frankly, the population scared me.

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Private schools are not as populated as government schools which ensures a smooth and steady pace of activities and the benefit of having the teachers pay attention to each student in order to monitor their performance and behavior.

Currently, that's really difficult to do in government schools due to the population.

I enjoyed my time spent in the private schools I attended because it was my type of environment and schooling in a government school would have been difficult for me.

• WHAT SHOULD BE CHANGED?

As a result of the population that's typical of government schools, teachers tend to neglect students. The crowd can be overwhelming especially when it's one teacher controlling a class of up to a hundred students without any help.

This can be resolved by the employment of more qualified teachers and the creation of more equipped government schools. This way, the population can be managed to an extent and there wouldn't be too much strain on the teachers.

That's basically what is needed in government schools right now, population control.

On the other hand, private schools should do well to employ qualified teachers for their students who pay fees to get taught. It's so sad that parents pay lots of fees only for their wards to not be taught the proper way.

Most of the teachers in these schools don't even have in-depth knowledge of the subject they're to teach students and many people take on teaching just to pass time and make quick money and it's the students that usually end up suffering.

It'd really help the reputation of a private school if the teachers are qualified and the students get quality education.