Teacher becomes internet sensation on the back of EdoBEST, EKOEXCEL pedagogy

Mrs. Fauziyah Shade Adegeye, also known as Teacher Shade, has become an internet sensation over a viral video of her motivating her pupils to preserve, work-hard and be resilient on the road to success. 

In the 2-minutes video, Teacher Shade can be seen rallying the pupils, while they responded accordingly. 

Teacher Shade is a product of a new teaching pedagogy adopted by Edo and Lagos state which uses an entirely new set of techniques to motivate pupils to succeed. Pupils are encouraged with positive reinforcement, praise and cheers to bring out the best in them.

The EdoBEST programme in Edo state and the EKOEXCEL programme in Lagos have trained over 27,000 teachers to use the technique with considerable success and improvement in teacher and pupil performances. 

The internet was agog over Easter weekend as Teacher Shade’s video was shared copiously across major blogs in Nigeria.

In the video that went viral, she can be seen starting her class at Ebenezer Primary school where she teaches Primary 5 pupils. At her prompt, children respond to the questions with words of affirmation and perseverance to the strength that they possess and the nonexistence of limitations to their growth and thirst for knowledge.

Sola Akinbo, a Twitter user praised and affirmed the inspiration behind the words of affirmation. He said “Thank you for bringing us joy. I was happy with the inspiration of hope. Thank you. I cried because I can relate with these kids and I know the power of the beautiful words. Thank you.”

In the same vein, Akande Abayomi also said “Letting the kids know what is ahead is not an easy ride, hence they have to be extremely determined is the best gift you can give them. Because truly it is a bumpy ride. God bless you for this, I’m so impressed.”

There have also been comments commending the teacher and urging more teachers to be like Mrs. Adegeye and engage their pupils to take an interest in learning. Bassey Abbey says “This is the type of teacher we aspire to have in our educational system to build our future leaders and not those that would be only interested in mundane things of life.”

This will effectively lead to an increase in enrolment and maintain attendance in schools. When asked about the rationale behind how passionately she motivated her pupils with the chants, Teacher Shade mentioned that she went into education in the public primary school system in order to contribute towards ensuring more children stay in school and receive basic education.

“Everything I said were words I felt if someone had told me, I would not have dropped out of school. Every day I come to class, I see myself in them”, she said in a recent interview with Punch.

This pedagogy has since revolutionized education in public primary schools, changing the public’s view of the public school system and the teaching profession. Response to the viral video has ranged from amazement at the powerful motivation and excitement at the potential this holds for improved classroom participation as regards maintaining interests in learning.

In her interview with Punch Newspaper, Teacher encouraged more parents to enroll their children in public schools, especially in Lagos state where the EKOEXCEL programme is being adopted in state-run primary schools. “Trained and qualified teachers are the ones working in public schools and I can assure you, you will get the best as long as you can follow up on your children’s education.”

Teachers in Edo and Lagos state have been positioned to impart quality life-changing education to children under their care. With trained and experienced teachers like Teacher Shade, public schools are experiencing a new dawn in the form of a total reform in terms of educational content and infrastructure reform.

With this reform in place, the public education sector is set for excellence by improving learning outcomes through teacher professional development. Boosting confidence in the public school system, teachers are at the forefront of the reform and having teachers passionate about education will boost enrolment in public schools and attendance retention.