Educators should consistently be exploring Research Centres – Al Qalam Schools

Al-Qalam Schools advocates that educators should consistently be exploring Research Centres, Industries and National Infrastructures to enhance learning. This was the assertion of Mr. Idris Afolabi, the School Management’s spoke man during the school’s visit to International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan on Tuesday 14th February, 2023. He urged schools not to limit their learners to wall corners of classrooms that educational trips should be given preference as adopted by Al-Qalam Schools Ibadan. He expressed further that a lot of benefits are associated with it.

He said the benefits of educational trips include uniqueness to children’s learning journey and making them an essential part of any all-round education.

He emphasized that the leadership of Al-Qalam Schools Ibadan strongly believed that educational trips will enhance the learning experience at every stage of education, from visits to the park to research centers and industries.

One of the School’s strategic leaders, Hajia Rukayat Abimbola (The Director of Academics) stated in her forwarded message that their learners (pupils & students) have visited six (6) different places on their educational outings in this 2022/2023 Academic year alone, including the just concluded visit to International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

She therefore solicited that government and industries should partner with schools to transform the Nigerian educational sector. She unveiled that there is a big gap between the Industries and classrooms in Nigeria. And that, it is one of the rationales why the impact of graduates are not being felt at work places.

Hajia Rukayat Abimbola made it known that classroom learning could never be sufficient for quality education and that the importance of real life experiences cannot be overemphasized. She then stressed further that when students leave the classroom, they see the connections between what is happening in school and the ‘real world. They begin to see that what they learnt within the walls of the classroom can help them solve some problems they see or identify in the world around them and can have a direct impact on who they become as an individual.

The School’s Head of Instructors (HOI), Mrs. Azeezat Bakare said Al-Qalam School deliberately moved classrooms to new and exciting locations through her well designed, organised and relevant educational outings. And which brought a change to the routine of school’s Time-table. She then concluded that educational trips are always memorable and therefore make effective learning tools.

One of the learners at the outing, Aisha Hammed (SS3 student) said what she experienced was really beyond her expectations, and that she was amazed to observe modern way of processing Garri at the Cassava processing Unit of the Institute.

Conclusively, Abdul-Lateef Isah (JSS1 student) and majority of learners remarked that they are looking forward to another academic year for more educational trips.