Hurray!! We’re at that time ⌚ of the year when we need to put everything in place for the take-off of a new academic session. As administrators, we have a vital role to play in this. Even though some planning for the new school year was done before you closed for the outgone school year, this period affords the opportunity to tidy things up for resumption.

Here are a few tips to help you as an administrator.

1. Communicate the Resumption Date to Parents and Staff

Even though the resumption date for the new school year had been communicated in the last newsletter for the last school year, there is a need to do a reminder on this using bulk sms and emails. You can also do so through the school’s social media platforms.

The date the teachers are expected to resume school would be different from that of the students. This is to enable adequate time for professional development and to decorate the classrooms and get things set ready for the arrival of the students.

I’m sure you do not want excuses from teachers about the resumption date. It’ll be too early in the school year for this.

2. Organise Training Sessions for the Teachers

There is a need to invest in the personal and professional development of your staff before the school year commences. I assume that in the performance evaluation of the staff, you must have taken note of the areas that need improvement in your school as a corporate body, and also in individual staff members, and prepared the training to address them.

Topics to include in your training would be Professional Ethics for Educators, Classroom and Behaviour Management, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, and a host of others. Do not schedule more than two training sessions in a day to make for effectiveness. There is no need to drain the staff at the beginning of the academic year with knowledge or information that may be rather overwhelming each day, and difficult to apply.

You can never go wrong with investing in the personal and professional development of your employees.

3. Ensure All Teachers Know their Class Placements

You might have sent out a class placement already before going on the summer break. But this is the time to confirm what class each teacher would be taking in the new academic session, to enable them to prepare and decorate their classes. I’m sure you know how eager teachers geet about what classes they’d be teaching in a new school year.

4. Start Class and School Area Decorations

After the teachers have been assigned to their classes, they need to start decorating their classes to prepare for the children’s arrival. Decoring the classes and school areas also creates a welcoming environment for prospective parents who would be stopping by to make enquiries for enrollment of their children in your school. Plus it has a way of pepping up the moods of the staff while they work and train.

10 things your 5 year olds should know before heading off to primary school.

They should be able to;

1. Say and read their full name.
2. Write their full names on their worksheets and, sign in for school activities unaided.
3. Orally state their home address, read and possibly write it.
4. Recite, write or dail both parents mobile numbers or an emergency number if need be. Parents ought to seriously take teaching this to their children. Better safe than sorry!
5. Capable of feeding themselves, refill their cup/ bottle and clean up after meal.
6. Undress before and after using the restroom and clean up throughly afterwards.
7. Share their opinion in a group, talk in front of their class and confidently express self.
8. Tie their shoe lace, buckle their footwear, wear their footwear in correct order : This life skill should be embodied early as it is useful throughout life.
9. Read and follow instructions of task and copy notes from the board.
10. Unpack bag/ lunch box, sort/ classify items accordingly, arrange/ organise desk/ locker and pack up books/ personal belonging before leaving for home daily.

Dear Parents if you can tick off all ten items, then your 5 year old is ready to embark on the next phase of their educational voyage. Less than 5 ticks means you have some grounds to cover ahead of next academic session.

Today is a good time to commence teaching them those things that they are yet to master.

I hope you found this list useful.

Do a (SWOT) analysis on Your Kids Before You Crucified Them

S = STRENGTH
W = WEAKNESS
O = OPPORTUNITIES
T = THREATS

I have tried several times since yesterday not to talk about this, but there’s a crawcraw in my hand that keeps pushing me.

I was on my way home yesterday when I stopped by a woman’s shop to buy groundnut. I had bought this fresh banana and the only thing that kept ringing in my head after I bought it was groundnut, groundnut, almost like a nursery rhyme. Yeah, dinner was going to be a bomb! Who says good life must necessarily come expensive? Tueh!

I got to her shop, horned severally but there was no response. I was hearing muffled sounds from inside her retail store and knew she was in there. I waited a bit inside the car, too tired to get out and then shouted her name. ‘Mummy Sewa, se e wa ninu shop?’. Chai! Still no response o. I was already close to the house and had passed several supermarts. I hated buying groundnuts from those big stores bcos most of the time, it’s stale and no longer sweet as it should be. But Mummy Sewa’s own is always fresh and yummy.

Anyways, I finally got down, went into her shop, saw no one, then went in to the backyard. Some few steps from there, I started hearing Tazai, kpokam, whai, voom and a loud wailing from a small lad. Mummy please, please, I will take 1st next term. Plsss, I will not be watching TV again… Haha. Which kain wahala be this? I ran closer to the woman, blocked the boy and a whip almost landed on my back. I was madly enraged and almost landed her a slap. How dare you suffer a young child like this? Is this not the way parents unconsciously groom potential abusers? Is this what will make him be at the top position next term?

Mummy Sharon, please leave o. I must kill him today. He came 13th in his class after all my wahala on him. Shebi you know his dad has left all of us since and I’ve been the one suffering day and night. Haaa yeeeee. I must finish him o. All he does is watch TV and play ball. Nothing else.

Take it easy Ma. I told her, but she wouldn’t hear none of it. She was still shaking and vibrating like a rickety agbegilodo.

Oya, kill him na. You go soon kamdan now. What was your own grade when you were his age? By the time he lands in the hospital, I’m sure your Apollo eyes will clear. I was starting to boil up myself.

Afterwards, I told the boy to follow me in my car, left both the groundnut and the seller and zoomed off. Mission groundnut aborted!

I don’t know why Parents do this shit.

The first time I caught my son teaching his elder sister her maths assignment, I was shell-shocked. As in Se owo oti jona bayi? Sharon hated mathematics with every fibre in her and never seem to get it right. I was tempted to shout on her then but I always manage to keep my calm. Unlike Simon, she has never been first before in her class but I always encouraged her. Later I began to realise her strength and area of core competency- English. She can spell any word. She can read anything, She can narrate a whole book from beginning to ending without mincing words. She loves to dance Salsa. She likes to sing. She still hates Maths but she’s getting better. And last Session, she got the overall best in English in her grade.

We can’t all be good at everything.

Our kids can’t be the best at everything.

We need to be close to them to learn where their strengths lie.

The case of the 12 year old boy who tried to poison his fellow classmate at Lekki British international school just because he was coveting the first position always play in my mind. Who knows what the root cause is? Who knows if he was under pressure from home to get the slot otherwise they won’t take him for a vacation in Bahamas or buy him his dream bicycle or whatever…..

The pressure Parents put their kids through ehn….. You must be a doctor, you must be a lawyer, I want you to become a Pilot, an Engineer. Bla Bla Bla

Will you keep kwayet there!

We need to realise being at the first, second or third position does not guarantee success in life. Intelligence, hardwork, creative instincts all covered with Grace does.

I graduated with a Second Class upper in Computer Engineering (even though Dad did everything to make sure I studied Medicine). I have MSCE, CCNP and CompTIA certifications. By God’s grace, I have an online MSC degree. I have an OAU MBA degree. But I’m using none at my present place of work. Even with all these, I have friends who graduated with a third Class or Pass doing way way better than me. I see them and I’m grateful to God for His grace upon their lives. I feel they’ve achieved much more.

But then, what is the measure of achievement? Is it quantified in monetary terms alone? Is it by the physical assets one has acquired? No! I don’t think so.

What pushes us in life differs.

Some just want to make money.

Some just want to create history.

Some just wanted to break a jinx in their household.

Some just want to be famous

Some just want to put smiles on other people’s faces.

Some just want to be happy.

Some just want to change the status quo in the world we are.

Some just want to get married.

Some just…..

And when they get this, they have achieved all what they wanna fulfil in life. And there’s nothing you can do or say to convince them otherwise.

Let’s stop putting so much pressure on our children. Let’s encourage them to be who they wanna be. Success isn’t measured via academic pursuits alone.

Do a SWOT analysis of your kids. Strength, weakness, opportunities and threats.

Live your dream and let them live theirs. Don’t force the fulfilment of your failed dreams through these innocent souls.

With encouragement, support, prayers, they will be the best in whatever they set out to do.

Back to Mama Sewa’s case, I took the boy back to his house after about an hour and spoke some sense to the mum.

I believe she would have had a change of heart.

No Child is an Olodo! Their position last term doesn’t matter. That is not the only determinant for future success.

May our children be better and greater than us.

Amen!

Copied with slight edition

*Preamble*
13.1 Lagos State Creation and Its Administrators
Lagos State among other few states, was created in some fifty years ago on the 27th of May 1967, from Colony Province and Lagos Federal Territory. Ever since her creation, she has been governed by both Military and Civilian Administrators.
The first Governor was Brigadier Mobalaji Johnson, a Military Administrator, who serves from 28 May 1967 to July 1975. Late Comdr. Adekunle Lawal, a Ministry Administrator, served from July 1975 to 1977.
Thereafter, Comdr. Ebitu Ukiwe, a Military Administrator, ruled between July 1978 to October 1979. While, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande became the first Civilian Governor from October 1979 to December 1983.
Late Air Comdr. Gbolahan Mudasiru, became the Military Administrator from January 1984 to 1986.
Capt. Okhai Mike Akhigbe, a Military Administrator, ruled from 1986 to July 1988 while Brigadier Gen. Raji Alagbe Rasaki, a Military Administrator, ruled from July 1988 to January 1992.
Sir, Michael Otedola, another Civilian Governor, ruled from January 1992 to March 1993 and Col. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a Military Governor too, ruled from December 1993 to 22nd August 1996.
Col. Mohammed Buba Marwa, a Military Governor, ruled from 22nd August to 29th May 1999. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Executive Governor, reigned from May 29th to 29th May 2007 (having served for two terms)
Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, an Executive Governor, governed Lagos State from May 29th 2007 to May 29th 2015. Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, another Executive Governor Lagos State, came to power in May 29th, 2015 and still running the affairs of the State to date.
The journey to the State of Excellence, is not a “child’s play”. For many reasons, the state has witnessed a lot of ups and downs in terms of political crisis, economy, education etc that affect the development of this level of education . The thrust of this unit is to examine the contributions of the past governors and the current one, regarding the status of Early Childhood Education programme in Lagos state.

13.2 *Historical Development of Early Childhood/Nursery Education in Lagos State*
A commendable starting point of having a formalised Nursery Education in Lagos State public schools officially started in 1999 when the Federal government of Nigeria, under the leadership of the former president, Obasanjo Olusegun, launched the Universal Basic Education scheme on October 30th 1999 in Sokoto, known as  to as (Sokoto declaration).
This  UBE programme was expanded in scope, to take care of Junior Secondary Education, Adult and Non-formal Education,though the act that established the scheme, was passed into Law in 2004 and became operational in all the states.
Lagos State, the State of Excellence, blazed the trail in Early Childhood Education in 2004, when the Governor during that time, “Senator” Ahmed Tinubu (fondly called then), realised that the public primary schools in the state, were allegedly deserted and there was no parents willing to send their wards to public primary schools because of many reasons and especially, lack of Nursery classes. This reality, prompted the introduction of “Linkage Classes”, (a nomenclature for nursery education) in Lagos state that time, in to all the primary schools in the State as a way of extending Early Childhood Education to the younger ones who are yet to attain primary School age. Two (2) of such “Linkage classes”, were set up in each of the Twenty (20) Local Government in the State. It was noted that, after two (2) years of experimentation of this project, “the linkage Classes” in enrollment in Lagos-State, increased sporadically and this subsequently compelled government to raise the standard and number from the initial 778 to 996. (Adebiyi, 2010).
This “linkage classes”, facilitated an unprecedented qualitative primary school system and patronage of parents in public primary schools. (Avosetiyen, 2003)

*13.3 LAGOS-SUBEB*
The UBE Act of 2004 facilitated the establishment of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) on the 30th December 2005 and was launched on 30th January 2006 with the following vision statement *every child’s potential is realized by Accessing Basic Education*. While the mission statement is: *Lagos SUBEB in collaboration with stakeholders will create a conducive environment for quality teaching and learning through the provision of infrastructure, capacity building and support for LGEAS*
As at  2016/2017 Academic Session, Lagos-State has about 1011 public primary schools with each having a pre-primary section and that of course, can be traced to the initial progressive decision taken by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who blazed the trail in this regard, even when all other Governors in Nigeria , as at that time, could not take the risk of investing on Early Childhood Education. Thereafter, many states followed suit and in 2013, Federal Government made appearance in National Policy on Education  to establish the 1-year Kindergarten Education in public schools.
*Lagos State Governors’ Score Cards on ECCE*
Mr. Babatunde Fashola complemented the effort of his precessor, Asiwaju Hammed Tinubu, by increasing the number of Public Primary Schools from 996 to 1007 with all, having pre-school sections. The  Governor after Raji Fashola,  Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in less than a year in office, added additional four (4) to the number making a total of 1011 public primary schools in the State with each, having a Pre-primary Section. Kudos to all the governors for their interest in Early Childhood Education.

*13.4 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR TEACHERS:*
Not until year 2010, when a massive one-week capacity building training was organized for teachers at Federal Government College, Ijanikin by the State Universal Basic Education, anchored by Association for Childhood Education Practitioners (ACEP) in conjunction with Applied Scholastics, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (who were not ECCE professionals). the capacity building for this  category of teachers was not in place.It was in fact the first  of its kind ..There was no attempt to train teachers in ECE best practices untill 2010. Ever since 2010 however, records available showed that, pre school  teachers have since being trained in ECE best practices.
In year 2016, under the Governorship of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State recruited over One Thousand and Three Hundred (1300) teachers for the State public Nursery, primary schools but with (very very few Professionals in Early Childhood Education recruited to handle the pre-schools. 

*13.5 LAGOS DIGITAL LIBRARY INITIATIVE*
Governor Ambode Akinwunmi led government, recently blazed a trail in the area of digital library when he unveiled a first of its kind digital library via the online portal. He envisioned Lagos as a dream of becoming Africa’s Model Megacity, and a global economic and financial hub. The digital library launched, will provide a repository of contents which include 2,000 study aids on core subjects from primary to senior secondary school curriculum, instructional videos and selected e-books for primary to SS3 approved texts, brief history of Lagos State Online forum podcasts and exam-mate (A Test Resource) was even captured.
The contents also include quality research papers from Lagos State Tertiary Institutions covering a wide range of topics digitized for the platform in various forms such as Vocational videos, Entrepreneurship contents and creatively presented History lesson online courses on coding.
As part of his administration to mark the 50th Anniversary of Creation of Lagos – State, the library initiative is open for private use. Two centres (Library), have been established at Herbert Macaulay, Yaba and Isolo for public use.

*13.6 My Observation*
As beautiful and laudable the library project is, there is no provision for early childhood education in terms of repository contents where caregivers and the teacher trainers in this field can access materials for their professional development.  This disparity needs to be addressed in time.

*13.7 Recommendation/Last words*:
As we mark the 50th anniversary of creation of Lagos State, the state of Excellence and a template state for others, we appeal to government to consolidate the existing structure (Pre–Schools) where the foundation of formal education begins.
The recruitment of right professionals, inclusion of early childhood education on the digital library and the online portal becomes a priority. There is no scarcity of ECE professionals in Lagos-State again, because two (2) Colleges owned and funded by the State have produced professional caregivers in abundance. In fact, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), started producing graduates in Early Childhood Education since year 2013 and she has since produced four (4) successive sets. Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED) too started producing in 2013 and has equally produced four (4) sets and only few has been employed. In fact, less than five (5) of those graduates have been employed by government of Lagos State. It should be noted that, it is only the teaching skills  and stimulation from these professionals (in ECE) that can guarantee effective learning at this level.
On behalf of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education and School of Early Childhood and Primary Education (SECPED), I wish to congratulate the Governor of Lagos-State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and the entire State Executive, the Legislators, the Judiciary and other stakeholders in Lagos-State on the Celebration of 50th Anniversary of creation of the state of excellence.

Itesiwaju Eko
Lo je wa logun
REFERENCES
Avosetinyen, M.S. (2003), Lagos State Educational System and the fourth Republic: Issues and Prospects NER 8(1) pp. 42-48.
Federal Government of Nigeria (2013). National Policy on Education. Lagos-Jibowu: NERDC.
Federal Ministry of Education (2013). Guidelines for implementing National Policy on integrated Early Childhood Development in Nigeria. Abuja: Ministry of Education.
FGN/NCCE, (2012). Nigeria Certificate in Education Minimum Standards for ECCE. Abuja: NCCE/TETFUND
FGN/NERDC (2016), Minimum Curriculum for one-year kindergarten Education. Abuja: NERDC.
Fowowe, S.S. & Melekeowei, M.O. (2017). Studies in Early Childhood Care and Education. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. & Ogunmade, S.A. (2017). Contemporary Issues in Nigerian School System. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. (2013). Introduction to Early Childhood Education in Nigeria. An unpublished mono for NCE undergraduate.
Fowowe, S.S. (2016). How children Learn: Developmentally Appropriate Approach. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. (2017). One-year kindergarten Education in Nigeria: The Role of Stakeholders. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S; Adebesin, S.T. and Sobulo E.A. (2016). Classroom Observation: A practical Guide for Teachers. Lagos: Gbadura Prints.

*Fowowe S S (2021)*
   *Being an extract from a text titled* *Implementation of 1 Year Kindergarten Education in Nigeria : The Role of Stakeholders*.
*Lagos : ANPEIN INC*