I have always been fascinated by the British reality programme ‘Child Genius.’ It is very interesting, but at the same time it shows how parents push their children very hard through rigorous practice to participate and win.
At times I would think what if such a programme is introduced in Nigeria? Then I read a write up by Dr Ibraheem Dooba entitled: One way geniuses recall information. He said he asked his young son to quickly list 30 English words. Then he explained how it could be done by categorising and so on.
I commented that he was grooming our next generation genius.
However there may be other parents that are also grooming their children to become very brilliant. Brilliance or intelligence may be inherent, and can be found among many , but what the really exceptional ones do, they go the extra mile, despite knowing that they may be among the best. They don’t relax and say ‘It is not difficult; I know how to do it.’
And perhaps since to groom such children they have to be brilliant in the first place, therefore there would not be the need for shouting, spanking and threats as some parents do when they are teaching their children homework, though a lot of the burden of homework has been shifted to lesson teachers.
So it may turn out to be an interesting exercise. This is not saying the other children should be neglected. Every child has his own capability.
So back to my question, what if Nigerian version of the UK Child Genius were to be done?
It may start with a noble intention, but it would certainly become something else due to corruption that is endemic in all aspects of our life.
First of all, some parents may not have the time or the ability to groom their children themselves, so they would engage lesson teachers who may tell the parents the child is doing well even if he is not to justify their pay.
Then parents would push, reach out to examiners, obtain the questions and get their children there. And if such a child should win, if the parents have conscience they would not be very happy because the child won through cheating. They have taught him that cheating pays.
So before you know it, it would be compromised by politicians, the wealthy and government officials.
Years ago, Schools for the Gifted, our own way of official grooming of geniuses, if you ilke, were established in some states, but they were compromised by government officials and their like. They felt their children must attend such schools even if they could not cope.
That is how some children end up being demoralised, but if they are put among average students they would do very well, but no, they must become gifted by all means.
Some Science Secondary Schools also suffer this kind of brazen abuse of power and position.
In one such case, a student was caught in malpractice with answers and it was traced to a Ministry of Education official. She was expelled from the school.
In this regard the fear which is justifiable that the contest may not be transparent is enough to undermine the programme. In fact it would be an avenue where some people would make money.
Nowadays examination malpractice is the norm, schools and some state governments do it. In some private schools all students must pay a certain amount of money for the malpractice. And it is official. Government schools do it as well, so that they would not be blamed that their students have failed.
Some state governments would say they would not want any failure and the malpractice machinery is set in motion.
That is why you see students come out with excellent results with distinctions and credits, but a lot of them cannot write well. One such student with glowing result couldn’t tell time on a wrist watch.
“Please help me check the time,” she was asked.
“I don’t know how on this type,” she said.
“You are not taught how to read time?” the person was incredulous.
The type she couldn’t read was analogue, but would she be able to read the digital one?
Anyway, someone went for aptitude test for employment, but to his dismay, it was manipulated where some candidates from a certain ethnic group were the only ones to pass.
In any event, our geniuses should be given the chance and the platform to shine and dazzle us devoid of being manipulated by ethnicity, regionalism and ethnicity. Above all, not corrupted by parents.
