Expert blames teachers for failure in Mathematics

BY DAYO ADESULU
The reason for yearly failure in Mathematics among secondary school students has been traced to teachers’ lack of practical skills that  make the subject interesting to students.
Proprietress of Chrisfield Private  Schools, Ita-maga, Ikorodu, Mrs Olabisi Olateru who made this assertion during the school’s maiden sports festival stated that most students who fail Mathematics do so because their teachers lack practical skills that make the subject interesting to students.
She said; “If teachers do not device means of teaching this key subject,  students will continue to see it as difficult and run away from it.”
Olateru who urged teachers to use true life situation to explain Mathematics to students pointed out that  some teachers’ lack of practical skills in this basic area has made students hate the unavoidable subject.
The Chartered Accountant turned educationist said; “If you bring the teaching of Mathematics into reality by using true life stories and examples, it will make the subject interesting as students will find it not boring thereby falling in love with the subject and subsequently understand it.”
She maintained that the problem of our education sector started from our home, adding that many parents have failed to support the strategy put in place by teachers to enhance students’ learning.
Olateru explained that if assignment is given to students, many parents would not bother to check whether their wards did it or not, not to talk of assisting them in doing it.
To arrest the downward trend, she reiterated that there should be stakeholders’ meetings in every school, where vital issues affecting the sector would be discussed.
She disclosed that already in her school, stakeholders’ programme like parenting and seminars were held in the just- concluded term, adding that they hope to continue with such programme next session.
On reasons some students in private schools perform better academically than those in public schools, she noted that the difference is in the way both are being handled explaining that in private schools anyone who does not perform is fired, whereas in the public schools, teachers can do whatever they like and go free.
Her words; “I love teaching, I love impacting knowledge to children. I love adding value to children’s lives, that was what led me to establish the school. I know what education was like in the 1960s and what  obtains now. I want to see how I can make a change in this generation. I want to give what I had gained over the years and even add better things.”
Source: The Vanguard