Time and again, it's been said that children are like sponges. They absorb everything their minds are fed with, the good and the bad, which presents a tough challenge for primary schools. On a viral video, a Nigerian school founder shares about her love of children that prompted her to start a school that teaches its students to value learning and be confident with themselves.
Monsurat Thomas is the star of Huffington Post's Rise video that features her inspiring teaching career that eventually led to the founding of Bolafade Primary School. The video starts with Monsurat professing her love: "I'm a mother. I love my children. I love all children," she says.
Because of this love, she started Bolafade Primary School with 86 children and about 2 or 3 rooms. Today, there are more than 600 students attending her school from nursery, primary and secondary levels.
Monsurat then goes on discussing briefly how her lessons spark interest and enthusiasm among children. She incorporates music and dancing to make classrooms discussions lively and interactive.
"If you want to gain their hearts, you dance, you talk. You ask them questions. Any questions you want to ask them, if they are boring, they're not going to answer you," she says.
She lets her students be free and only enters the picture once difficulties for the children arise. It's important for her to keep a tight-knit relationship with the students, especially children, so when they go outside, they remember and smile at her.
"I'm very happy seeing my students graduate. I want them to be proud of my school. And I want them to see me outside and be happy. I'm giving them the great future. Wherever they are, I want them to be free, to be bold, to be able to ask any question of anybody. And if it's time for difficulties, I'm there to assist them. They know me for that," she says in the video.
Even after almost 17 years of running the school, Monsurat Thomas is very open for criticisms from parents and students. But it looks like children and parents have very little to complain about. A simple testament to this is the aforementioned video posted by HuffPost Parents on Facebook that has already reached a thousand likes as of posting.
Last December 2015, News Agency of Nigeria reported about encouraging children with special needs to interact with other students. Monsurat Thomas said during that time that Bolafade Primary School currently doesn't have enrolled children with special needs but she is very much willing to welcome them.
According to a Bloomberg report in 2014, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children, amounting to 10.5 million in number. Parents don't enroll their children because of violence and security issues in the Northeast which, in effect, forces schools to close. Meanwhile, open schools often lack teachers and are congested with students.
Monsurat Thomas' efforts to continue teaching Nigerian children is a big help in encouraging children to continue studying, in pushing parents to enroll their children and influencing other schools to open. What do you think of Monsurat Thomas' school?
