I was up this midnight around 1:00 am, trying to wrap up a project which had to be completed before the end of the weekend. Then in the struggle against sleep, I opened my Football Manager 2015 to play for some minutes, but then the sleep was still hanging around,so I closed it. I opened twitter, there was nothing really interesting, I read news from some blogs, but was still feeling sleepy, then I opened facebook. The first thing that caught my eyes was a person who was interacting with his old teacher.
Then I thought of my old teachers. I took out time to search for their profiles on facebook and believe me, as I saw their profiles, I was just smiling. I reminisced on those days in Ezekiel private college and I could only have a deep smile. Believe me, sleep had left me totally at this time. I appreciated the great moments spent passing through them all.
Let me deviate a bit. Some weeks ago, i got commended about my good use of English language. Then i wondered how this came about and could only remember Mrs. Yahaya Badru. Yes Mrs Badru. I remember how she took us through the guiding principles of English Language, although it did not make much sense then, It really makes sense right now.
I remembered how Miss Lawal used to take us through a tough drill of 'dictations'. I remember when she took us French too. I remember my big bros too, Mr Salami, the legendary Agricultural teacher who broke Agricultural science into pieces and made it very easy. At some point in secondary school, I loved Agricultural science so much that I wanted to study an Agriculture related course in school just like my elder brother. But I later realized that was not my calling. lol.
I could keep naming these great teachers one by one. I remember you all sirs and mas. I didn't forget the punishments and the floggings too. It has all been forgiven tho, It was needed to instill discipline. I hold no grudges against any teacher, even a certain man who once flogged me for reading newspaper in the school library. lol. Let's not bring up his name. I have totally forgiven him.
Although in my SS2 and SS3 days, stubbornness set in and myself and some friends (you know yourselves.lmao) gave certain teachers a tough time, but then it was all part of the learning experience. I am sorry for those times. We are sorry.
Rewind to primary school at Starfield Educational Center, although I cant remember most of these teachers, I remember the very nice secretary, Mrs Adeniyi who was more like my guardian in primary school. She was a very nice woman.I remember Aunty Mary, she always made assembly fun with her hiphop like swagger. Mr Alex the feared one! He could flog for Africa.I remember Mr Omisakin, Mr Ganzallo, Mr Ceva the french teacher, Mr Adeniyi the fineart/french/karate teacher. Who else, yeah! The proprietress herself, Mrs JO Eigbe. Starfield School laid the quality foundation.
Primary school passed,with so many great but not tangible experiences. I wrote common entrance, scored 534 wanted to go to Kings College, but despite my high common entrance score, I still didnt get admitted. ( I had the 3rd highest score in Lagos then; The second in Lagos was also from Starfield, her name is Priscilla, she scored 540. I dey hail o Priscilla. lol) It wasn't that my parents weren't 'connected', but I guess it was just God shielding me from the KC hard life. lol. No offense to my KC brothers!
Okay, I didn't get admitted to KC, I had the option of the schools around, I guess Starfield, Providence and Ezekiel Private College. But my parents preferred Ezekiel, cos it was just a few buildings away from my house. To cut the long story short, I became an Ezekiel Student.
In JSS1, I remember Miss Lawal who taught French. very jovial woman who knew how to teach. She taught french in JSS2 too, till Mrs Ajibade took over in JSS3. Miss Oyefesobi who is now Mrs Filade taught me french at some point too. I still remember the French well mas. And trust me, I can still construct a few sentences in French and I jokingly speak French at times to my girlfriend who speaks a bit of French too. lol. Once again thank you Mas.
I have already talked about my 'tight' English Language and my good writing skill. Credit goes to Miss Lawal, Mrs Ajibade and Mrs Badru. They made sure I understood the rudiments of the language well. So whenever you think my English is great, always remember these women! I didn't learn English anywhere else, except from these women! How will i forget Mr Kareem too. Mr Sola Kareem aka S'Wealth. lol. He was a great guy too, and a friend to many students.
Lets go to Mathematics, thats my good area. All my university courses which are related to mathematics were always a walkover because of the kind of background I had in mathematics. I remember well, It was Mrs Udoka back in JSS2. She taught the mathematics so well that it became my favorite subject. I'm not sure who took me mathematics in JSS3, I guess it was Mr Adekunle. Another dreaded teacher who later became so close and friendly to the students. Then in Senior secondary school, it was Mr Akintade, Mr Olaleye and Mr Johnny Eyitemi who took me around mathematics and furthermaths. These men made mathematics so easy for me and even after many years, the knowledge is still very useful. I still quote Mr Olaleye till today and use his principle "If u don't understand any topic, solve 1001 questions on it, and you will understand". Although he said it jokingly, Its a great and useful principle". You really don't have to solve 1001 questions tho, just solve 20 questions and you are good to go. Mr Olaleye also never ceased to impress us with his vocabulary: 'bun-kum' , 'creep', etc.
Biology was Mrs Elezue and Mr Hilary Ekekwe. Great people, I remember it was miss Idehen who set the foundation for my biology by teaching me Integrated Science so well in junior secondary school. I guess at some point Mrs Aiyelotan also took Biology. I am not really sure. But Mrs Aiyelotan tho, She was our principal, but not just a principal, she was a mother to all of us. A very nice and simple woman. She was loved by everyone and even most of the teachers loved her too. I trust that God's blessings will always be with her.
Back to JSS, special shout out to Mr. Akintade and Mr Osho for the Intoductory Technology lectures, Mr Lucky handled the Social Studies well. Miss Omolara and Mrs Alli did good job to the yoruba. 'Oye ki a fi ola fun eni ti ola to si'. (Pardon my yoruba, there are no Ami end eyan on my keyboard ni o, i will have put them. Mrs Alli and Miss Omolara taught me well.) Oluko also tried from ss1-ss3. We fondly called her Oluko, but i think her name was Miss/Mrs Oguntade.
Which other subject did we have in Junior secondary school? Music! I cant remember their names. I remember Phusical and Health Education which was taught by the one and only Mr Victor. I remember our two computer teachers too. The one we called 'mafia' and the second one too who was a skillfull football player back then. I remember the very gentle Mrs Uwabor who taught Business Studies and Christian Religious Knowledge. And Mrs Ogunjemilehin I guess, she taught Christian religious knowledge at some point. Mrs Osadolor was the Igbo teacher, although I was never part of the Igbo class.
Back to senior secondary school, a special shout out to Mr. Adeoye. The man made Economics so easy that even If i write an exam on Secondary school economics now, I won't fail. He taught us with practical examples which really stuck. He was a great teacher, but we had a way of always getting flogged in his class. lol. We actually deserved all the beatings. Trust me!
Mr Salau the sure Chemistry teacher, there was also this petite woman who taught chemistry in ss1, but I cant remember her name. Then I know Mr Adekunle also taught us Chemistry. Although I never liked Chemistry, you guys did a great job and I know many of my friends who loved Chemistry and probably still love chemistry. Mr Akintunde also taught Chemistry. Thank God i remembered on time.
Physics was the jovial Mr Ogunmefun, Mr Faniyi and Papa Lanz! Great men who did a great job.
Also Mr Oduoye, the man who made me drop Agricultural Science. He was the one i talked about who flogged me in the library for reading newspaper. lol. I was really angry, but then its all in the past. I guess he just needed to flex his arms and I was the victim.lol. But the man could really flog tho.
A big shout out to the teachers who never taught me but were great on their sides, Mr Filade, Mr Oluseyije, Mr Kay, etc.
A big appreciation also goes to the Admin manager Mr Ajewole and to the father of us all Mr Fashipe the proprietor.
It was a whole 6 years passing through you fathers, mothers, big brothers and big sisters. Know this that as for me, you guys did not fail. You did a thorough job and I am proud of you all, and I pray that God will bless you all and also bless your children. They will also pass through great teachers. I really appreciate this and please accept my little appreciation. I really wish I could buy you all cars, but then the time will soon come by God's grace and by that time, I am sure God will have also blessed you all amazingly. Silver I have not, Gold I have not, but accept this little appreciation from me. I hope it puts a smile on your faces.
Fast forward to A'Levels at Cambridge College GRA. LOL! I can only laugh out loudly. My 'levels friends know the cause of the laughter. lol. But we had great teachers. Dr. Adebayo the Chemistry teacher who was also a great political and real life analyst. His classes were amazing and interesting. He had a way of advising us about life. Don't we all wish we had listened to him? lol.
Mr Azeez was flown in from UK to motivate us towards the exams (Special ops) and take us Physics. He was a great table tennis player and a greater physics teacher, he was also a good adviser. Mr Kay the mathematics teacher who always made sure we had a few good laughs in his class . Then we had Dr. Billy the fresh lecturer from Unilag who came to take us Chemistry after Mr Adebayo travelled for his Masters or was it Phd? I really cant remember. Then the one and only Dr. Ishola aka Young Aro. A quick note to my Cambridge friends,especially the stubborn ones that disturbed Mr Ishola: I once met him in Unilag. I went to his office. The man is really Young Aro. In my presence, a guy was shaking while trying to submit an assignment to Dr. Ishola. He is really feared in Unilag just like he told us. He wasn't bluffing.
I really cant remember the names of those who didnt teach me. I think we had Mr Kazeem and Mr Chuks the biology teacher, and so on.
A big appreciation goes to our father, the director, Hon. Wale Odunlami , Miss Ayo the administrative head, Mr Taiwo, my hall officer, Miss Folusho the female hall officer, Mr Ayo the Laboratory attendant, Iya Bolu our canteen woman of life. My guy, Fidelis the security man and Iya Mukthar the male hostel chef.
It was another 8months of my life spent in your care, you all did your jobs well and I really appreciate. God bless you all.
I should talk about my university lecturers right? Well, I'll talk about them very soon.
* There is no time for proofreading, so I will just post this note as it is, then post the refined version on my blog soon and also write a poem to extoll the virtues of a great teacher. So If you find any punctuation error or grammatical blunder in this article, dont laugh at me. Just corect it in your mind. If you dare throw me under the bus, i will challenge you to a writing competition, and you know I will win, cos I learnt from the best teachers ever. lol. I dey play o
Please keep sharing and tagging till all these great teachers see this post. Thank you.
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