LEAP AFRICA

Every child has a right to quality education. Silently sitting above this fact is also the right for teachers to be sufficiently empowered to become agents of transformative leadership to students. In the world and indeed Africa, teachers have significant roles to play in the total development of every child, therefore they must be provided with the requisite tools and support to stand as inspirational models to students.

The educational ecosystem is relatively dynamic which in the case of Nigeria, lacks adequate infrastructure to groom students to become transformative leaders. Research reveals that between 2009 to 2018, Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the education sector is between 4 - 9.94%, with its highest allocation in 2014 at 9.94%. In 2018, only N3.90 trillion or 7.07% of the total budget of N55.19 trillion was allocated to the sector. Apparently, the country falls short of the 26% benchmark set by UNESCO). Arguably, teachers have the most time with students, therefore the need to adequately equip teachers to effectively groom students and become models of leadership, integrity and many more is increasingly becoming a major aspect in the discourse around creative pedagogy.

Dr. Sidiq Uthman Okanlawon might not amply cover the array of teachers who have been trained in LEAP's iLEAD programme, however he fitly represents the impact of deliberately injecting leadership and life skills in the school curriculum on teachers. For over three years, Dr. Okanlawan has been involved in delivering the LEAP Africa’s leadership and life skills curriculum to secondary school students as a teacher volunteer in his school. Referring to the knowledge gained from cascading the curriculum to students, he admits that the best way to creatively impact the lives of students is to set teaching objective using the SMART (Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic and Time Bound) formula.

The iLEAD programme was designed to provide youth in select public secondary schools in with leadership, life and employability skills to achieve personal success and transition into higher education or paid employment leveraging a Training the Trainer (ToT) Approach. The ToT approach essentially seeks to empower Teachers in schools to cascade the iLEAD curriculum to student beneficiaries.

Today, Dr. Okanlawon is an academic doctor of Islam and Contemporary Studies, and he attributes this new degree to the values he learnt from the iLEAD programme. He explains that his engagement in the programme has given him a broader view to life and now demonstrates leadership in every facet of his endeavours. According to him, "servant leadership is the only pathway to positional leadership. Hard-work and effective time management are two main qualities every teacher must possess to become true leadership models to their students".The changes in teaching methods and the visible development in the academic journey of Dr. Sidiq Uthman Okanlawon reaffirms this truth. School teachers have every potential to model leadership to their students if they are well supported.

From all indications, Dr. Sidiq Okanlawon now demonstrates a strong value of integrity, patriotism and self leadership. He understands his role perfectly as uses insight from delivering the iLEAD curriculum, in his daily activities.