Skill development process  of a child is a function standard  schools  and  the  readiness of the child to learn. The earlier a child discovers his field of specialisation or career path, the better for him and the nation at Large.

Rising stars has observed that many students  discovered themselves as regard their academic and  creative strength late in life, mostly after their secondary school education, while sentiments and societal influence have made many of them to derail from developing their natural talents.

To guard against this problem, Educational Advancement Centre (EAC), Ibadan, was established to prepare  students for advanced  level education programme. Over the years, the institution has been in the vanguard of helping students to discover their areas of strengths to   give them the proper education to develop themselves towards the professions they have aptitude for.

During the week, Rising  Stars met Mr Ajoyo Sowande, a young man, who started his academic career in the Health Sciences, but changed to Social Sciences when he got to EAC. Although Sowande did very well in all the science  subjects at the secondary school level, he could not pass the UTME and post-UTME that would qualified him for medical course in the university. At EAC centre, he was advised to cross to social sciences for his A’ level programme, giving him the assurance that he would make it.

At the end of the course, Sowande enrolled for Accounting, Economics and Business Management in London Cambridge A’ level certificate examination. To the surprise of many, according to him, he had three distinctions and one credit.

He immediately got admission into University of   Ibadan to study Economics from 200 level. After  completing his   academic  programme in the university which he described as  stress-free, he sat for  the  aptitude  test  for banking job. His success in the test got him a job at the  bank. Today, he is a fulfilled person in his career, a former potential medical student turned banker, all within one year.

His spoke with Rising Stars on his experience. “I finished my secondary school education as a science student, with good grades. But I realised that I could not make the pass mark for the medical course in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Post UTME  for three years. Then I resorted to Social Science subjects from advanced level stage through advise of the Director of the centre, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose. It may surprised  many people that I did not study some of the subjects in the secondary school certificate level, yet I had distinctions in those subjects.

“What is important is to attend a good school that will provide what it will take to prepare students for examinations at all levels. When I was in secondary school, I was one of the brilliant students in the school. As a result of that, I was grouped among the science students, though not that I had keen interest in them, but my  interest was in financial management courses. I also had a flair  for writing.

“I make bold to say this, that my science  subjects  results were okay for Medicine. When I told my parents  that  I wanted to cross to Social Sciences, it took the Director of EAC, Pastor  Bamgbose to convince them. I thank God that I did not regret my decision. I did very well in the subjects in  which I did not have the ordinary level background knowledge. I have observed that academic success requires experienced teachers. In this regard, I want to attribute my success to the good teachers that I passed through. I learnt how to study for knowledge accumulation and  reading for examination purposes. Moreover, no success is obtainable without access to relevant materials to study, teachers to guide students and enough time to read.”

While talking about choosing a career, he says that whatever one enjoys doing and finds easy to understand is what one should choose as a career.

“For example, I was in science class during my secondary school days, but I have personal interest in Finance or Accounting and other related subjects. My advice is that people should retrace their steps to what they love doing. That is how somebody can discover oneself. Something you love to do is your area of field of  specialisation to embrace,” he stated.

Speaking  on the same issue, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose, stated that many students have been misguided from secondary school days. According to him, by the time they finish from secondary school, they would have been  put in a corner where they did not have relevant comparative strength to further their education in the university. Moreover, many parents want their children to read Law, Medicine and so on.

“If a child is misguided, he will not be able to perform very well. It is like putting a fish on the ground and expecting it to swim, but put it inside water, you will see its strength. Just like a bird that hops on the ground, but flies in the air. Everybody has a peculiar environment in which God has created him to function, and it would be disastrous to change such a person to another area. This will not bring progress for the person and the society at large.

“There was a case of a student who did A’ level examination in social sciences in Cameroon without success. The girl had to  go back to sit for some of the necessary science subjects at O’ level and we prepared her for A’ Level programme. Today, she is studying   Medicine abroad,” he stated.