WHY I HATED PRIVATE SCHOOLS

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Private schools especially in my home country, Nigeria are just “Overhyped public schools” with nothing better to offer. The hype and privileged feeling makes any private school student feel he gets better education standard and knowledge but the truth is, public schools are better off but are just highly mismanaged by the government.

I went to private schools for both my primary and high school. It was at first, a thing of joy especially with the hype that comes with it but the aftermath and realisation of near emptiness and incomplete fulfillment still haunts me till date.
I know you are wondering what i mean by near emptiness and incomplete fulfillment. Let me share my school life experience with you.

MY PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

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I attended private schools for both my primary and High school. Back in my senior year in my High school, i decided to take GCE exams which required that i take extra lessons outside school. This period opened my eyes to a whole new world outside of wearing expensive school uniforms, fancy school buidings and all private schools stands for.

I joined an evening tutorial class popurlarly known as SUCCESS TUTORS. This tutorial center was not too expensive so it housed lots of students mostly from public schools. In order to have a good seat close to the board, i always had to go very early and this gave me more opportunities to mix with other students and learn from them. It was through this i found out the hard truth that most private schools tend to deny.

The truth is, public schools provide the best education you can find around. They have the best kind of teachers with lots of experience. Most of these teachers are part of the examination boards and they therefore know is required from students, how questions are always set and manupulated and the best ways to answer them. These facts gives public schools the upper hand and this is more reason we have more high flying students in public schools than in private schools.

Back to my story, I met Mr Oyebanjo who made me love studying physics and helped me see Chemistry in a different light. Mr. Oyebanjo, an experienced teacher with over 30 years experience taught physics like it was nursery rhymes. He just had sweet ways of interpreting questions with different approach. It was more like heaven on Earth when it comes to teaching. This was my first time meeting a teacher teach physics without notes,textbooks and yet will still reference them. It showed how conversant he was with teaching physics.

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Prior to this, physics was more of a cram to pass subject for me. I never had my private school teachers explain the concepts practically. We were made to feel it was beyond our knowledge and we just had to find our way through.

I fell in love with Mr. Oyebanjo’s method of teaching so much that I’d always run to my tutorial center early whenever we have his class first.

Aside from meeting the best teachers, i met students who were high flyers and gingered me to do better. I was a local champion in my private school setting with no dream for improvement and more. I met the likes of Oluwaseun who later had the best GCE result in the whole of my local government area. This experience alone changed my perception of public school and her students.

Time passed and i resumed back in my private school but my experience all through kept me hungry for more knowledge. The truth is, private school also has its own advantage especially in Nigeria but Public schools offers more in terms of education and learning.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING PRIVATE SCHOOLS OVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Yeah, private schools had its own benefits over the public schools especially with issues faced in the Nigerian education system.

• Security issues: Nigeria is not a very safe place and during my high school days, we had issues of cult fights, theft, gang fights and many other crazy happenings in public schools. This is one advantage the private schools had.

I remember many times when we had to close schools or invite police and other security outfits just because of serious fights happening in a nearby public school. Sometimes, the cause of the fights might be for power struggle, fight for girls and many other funny reasons.

On the other hand, private schools catered for the security of her students and are always held responsible for any mishap.

• Overpopulation: Public schools in Nigeria are overpopulated. Some classes are overfilled that sometimes students sits on the floor, windows and have to share chairs.
  On the other hand, private schools have enough classes to accomodate their students.

• Under-staffed: Public schools are understaffed due to overpopulation and this factor leaves many coping students uncatered for.
  On the other hand, private schools through their expensive fees can employ more teachers and staff to meet the student population.

MY ADVISE ON WHAT SHOULD BE CHANGED IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

The truth is, both private schools and public schools are necessary in order to create competition and advancement.

For public schools, the Nigerian government needs to be more involved by setting up bodies to monitor and cater for their needs. If public schools can be given enough funds and amenities, I’d advise anyone to go there.

For private schools, the high cost of learning sometimes can make one go crazy and the worst part is where the students don’t finally get the quality education benefits paid for. Private schools should employ more experienced and qualified teachers instead of focusing on how to make profits.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more quality contents. Much love❤️