The proprietress of Alaba Lawson Group of Schools, Iyalode Alaba Lawson has lamented the dearth of discipline and morality in the Nigerian educational system.

The renowned educationist stated this while having a chat CEOAfrica at her Abeokuta residence

Mrs Lawson disclosed that the guiding principle of her school towards the pupils is ‘discipline, moral, and etiquette’ and this is responsible for her having no regrets in her 43 years in the educational sector

She blamed the rot in the educational system of the country, in the contemporary time, on the incompetence of the teachers.

She said, “apart from where the discipline is, you even see that a graduate cannot write his/her name properly. They will start with small letter, put the big letters inside,” adding that this was not the case in the 1950s and 1960s.

“In fact, you must know how to write your name by the end of primary one and the beginning of primary 2 because you are supposed to write your name on the exercise books.”

The Abeokute chief also lamented the abandonment of the country’s first National Anthem as she said, “all the lyrics of that National Anthem are what we really need today and we are missing today”, stating that this could be the cause of the prevalence of immorality in the society.

The proprietress advocated for the inclusion of the stakeholders in the running of the policies on education.

She said “Before they take any policy in education and before they take a decision, they should carry the stakeholders along, not only in the public schools, but also in the private educational system”.

She therefore recommends that the government re-introduce the Grade 2 system of training teachers by resuscitating the teacher training colleges, as well as technical colleges instead of recruiting graduates from universities “where they don’t learn how to write their names.

Speaking further, she said that some teachers don’t even know how to go to class in the morning and change the date on the blackboard, stating emphatically that “What you don’t have, you cannot give.”

She made a special appeal to parents by asking them to collaborate with schools in training the children “by giving them discipline so that we can all get that missing link to bridge the communication gap in our educational system”.