…says Delta State needs paradigm shift on how to tackle education
Patricia Brotugbare popularly known as the Nigerian Mobile-Educator is the Chief Executive Officer of RealEducators Integrated Services. She is currently organizing an educational tour to Ghana and Dubai called S.T.E.A.M and ETIQUETTE project for kids and teenagers in Warri, Delta State.
S.T.E.A.M is an acronym which stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. Her mission is to empower children and teenagers to be their best and inspire the explorers within them by exposing them early to the concept of 21st century skills and applying the hands on approach to learning.
Her vision is to provide the best nurturing and engaging environment for children and teenagers. In this interview with Francis Sadhere, she talks about her Edu- Tourism programme and other issues concerning education in Nigeria. Except:
please can we meet you?
My name is Patricia Brotugbare. I am from Aladja, Udu Local Government Area of Delta state. I grew up in Warri. I attended College of Education, Warri. I Left Warri to Asaba five years ago and while I was in Asaba a vision emerged. I have always wanted to be a mobile educator. This vision emerged from a WhatsApp group where I share my everyday classroom teaching and learning scenarios. My love for travelling earned me the name ” Mobile Educator.” My hairstylist playfully called me ” Mobile Educator ” just because I travel a lot. Another colleague of mine in the education sector, coined the name “Nigerian Mobile Educator.” So I decided to brand myself as the Nigerian Mobile Educator, with an official logo and Facebook group. I have organized seminars and workshops in more than seven states in Nigeria.
During my travelling escapades, I visited schools in Nigeria to learn first hand teaching experiences in various schools in the country. This gives me the opportunity to have a lot of experience in teaching patterns in our schools. I like creative ideas and some of the things I love in all the states I have been to, I like to bring them here in Delta state. This is one of the reason we are organizing kids and teens STEAM and etiquette club in Delta state which was officially opened on May 4th 2019.
We are also into edu-tourism and we are organizing our first edu-tourism to Ghana on the 1st to 7th of June this year. This educational trip is open to everyone in Delta. On the 24th to 31st of August, we are having a similar trip to Dubai. I am using this opportunity to call on well meaning Nigerians and the government to come and partner with me on this project.
I am an advocate for early childhood education. I advocate for best and appropriate practices in early years schools in Nigeria. This is the foundation stage of all children. I train teachers on the best teaching methodologies in nursery and primary schools.
Who is a mobile educator?
A mobile educator is someone who travels to different schools around the world to share and tap ideas on education methodologies. This is just an aspect of my company. What we try to do is learn from each other about different techniques in teaching. We are going out of Nigeria to learn more about how other countries in the world manage their education. We all know that traveling is part of education and this is why, as someone who likes traveling a lot, I have to connect my hobby to my career.
When you travel to other state, what do you do in those states?
Each state I go to I try to connect with educators like school proprietors, administrators and classroom teachers and other stakeholders in education. We have different hubs in each state in our WhatsApp groups where we discuss strictly education matters. We try to form a link between the educators in that state and other stakeholders. With collaboration I can connect with anybody and exchange ideas with them. We also train the trainers. When I talk to the educators, they tell me their challenges and in other to solve these challenges we organize pep talks in the schools or where it is necessary we organize trainings, seminars and workshops for the teachers. In such trainings I am now the link between the teachers and the experts who come and train them. In our last workshop, we brought experienced facilitators who are into science, technology, arts and crafts .
You have traveled to other states in the country, what are some of the things you have observed in these state?
One of the things I observed in other states is that they are open to learning unlike Delta. They are all life long learners and with that paradigm shift in those states, they have progressed more than us here in Delta. The reason why I am doing what I am doing today is for us to appreciate education more in Delta state. We have organized a book fair in Uvwie local government area to revamp the reading culture in the state. I have discovered that after all the workshop we have had with different schools in Delta, they don’t go back and implement what they have learnt in their schools. We have written several proposals but the responses are not encouraging. Most times I visit the schools after each workshop because I also collaborate with the National Association of Proprietors Of Private Schools (NAPPS) in terms of training, workshops and organizing school clubs for the pupils. These clubs can be reading club, science club or any other clubs. I call all these learning activities extended curriculum. So if the schools collaborate with RealEducators Integrated Services, the children will be exposed to a lot of things that they are not taught in school.
What do you want the state government to do for you?
What we are asking Delta people and the state government to do for us is to come and collaborate with us so that we can take this project to where it’s suppose to be. We just need one individual or a corporate organization that can endorse this program for us. If I was to bring Davido a musician to Delta state a lot of people will like to key into the vision. But today we are talking about education here and most people are not showing interest in our vision in this state. This is the challenge I have in Delta.
We need sponsors for all our educational programmes.
If we can get one or two sponsors here in Delta state, we will go places with this vision. We need our children to be little explorers and all they need are sponsors. There are so many things children are doing in China today and we want our children to be like them.
How do you convince parents to participate in this programme?
This is why we are talking about sponsors. If we have sponsors we can subsidize the prices of some of these tours and clubs so that parents can afford it. We also need government to endorse this programme so that people will know that we are serious.
Why mobile educator?
Growing up I schooled in Warri from primary school to tertiary institution and I felt that I am limited with the knowledge I have. So I decided that I will have to go out of my comfort zone. Since I love traveling, I told myself that why not do something with the hobby. So I said, why not be a mobile educator. As a result of this decision, I have gained so much knowledge because I have interacted with so many educators from different states. So, as a teacher, if you are privileged to be trained by me, you are going to have a total package because the knowledge I have acquired is not limited to one state. So I am building a total school and a total child. This is a brand I am trying to create for myself. We need a paradigm shift in education. We need to step up our own game. What we do is train the trainers.
When we organize different clubs for the children, what they learn here is not what they learn in school. We want to take educators outside the shores of Nigeria. This year we are going to Ghana and Dubai. We call it edu-tourism and this is one aspect we must explore in Nigeria. We all know that travelling is part of education, and what we are doing is not just traveling to another country for a shopping spree. As you travel to these places, you are going to learn so many things that you have not learnt in the normal classroom setting. This is also not only about having a tour of the places we are going, but we are also going to organize training for both the teachers and the children. After the tour you are coming back home with a certificate and not just the tourism experience. This edu-tourism is an educational programs for both parents, teachers and the pupils.
What is edu-tourism all about?
Edu-tourism is a sight seeing and leisure program, to gain new knowledge in different culture and context. The idea of RealEducators educational tour/training is built around the practice of “Experimental Learning which has so many blessings like effective learning, exchange of ideas, personal development and global networking. Bookings ongoing till mid May, 2019.
What is your company’s vision and mission?
Realeducators Integrated Services.
Our Vision: To be Nigeria’s number one network of education stakeholders, professionals and teachers and parents, adding value to educational policy, instructional design and delivery.
Our Mission: To utilise cutting edge technology and experiential learning to achieve improvement in all sectors of the educational value chain through the involvement of policy makers, administrators, teachers, consultants and parents in the design and implementation of learning interventions.
Our Core Values are; Continuous Learning, Collaboration, Innovation, Creativity and Technology.
Our Slogan is, “Let’s collaborate wisely.”
Thank you.
