According to a news article in the Sun newspapers, students seeking admission into Senior Secondary School (SS1) at King’s College, Lagos, would be required to produce evidence of a three-month skill training in three different careers or risk being disqualified!
This much was said by the Vice Principal (Academics), Mrs. Elizabeth Ibezim, who spoke on behalf of the Director/Principal of the college, Mr Oluseyi Thomas, describing it as the new admission policy which focuses on equipping students with skills for employment outside conventional classroom teaching.
It was during a two-day career fair, organised by the college’s Guidance and Counselling Department that this was made known. This is not the first time the college has organised such fairs, seeing that they were participants at the last National Exhibition in Abuja, where some of the things produced by students of the school were put on display.
Some of the products on display at the school fair included beads made from paper, sockets, liquid soaps, hand sanitisers, hair creme, gloves, tie and dye fabrics (adire) and wooden hangers. In the future, Mrs Ibezim declared that students will be empowered to make such products like laundry soaps, gloves and hair creme in large quantities for use by both students and staff of the school instead of buying and spending needless money on such items.
She mentioned further that the three months skills training programme has been made compulsory for all JSS 3 students, as proof of participation will serve as a prerequisite for admission into SS1. She continued thus:
When they come for registration into SS1, they must present signed forms by all the entrepreneurs they visited (at least three), stating the nature of training they underwent there, the duration, and so on.
In conclusion, she gave the reasons why such a scheme was made important for boys at the college:
We want to expose our students to different career opportunities. For those in JSS3, who are soon to finish their Junior WAEC examinations, we want them to spend the three months holiday period doing more than just sitting back at home, watching television.
We expect them to go for training at three different entrepreneurial centres, learn the skills before coming back to school, and recommencing their education at the senior level.
Are you in the same boat with these students? What do you think? And even if your school does not have this policy, would you like to apply it to yourself regardless? Let us know in the Comments!
