Olusola’s new book teaches you what school doesn’t teach you

Bothered by the abysmal state of the education sector, serial entrepreneur Segun Olusola has launched a book that provides solutions to education-based problems both on the individual and general levels.

First launched in the United Kingdom, the book ‘What School Doesn’t Teach Us’ talks about choosing a career, formal education, the significance of informal education, diverse skills, innovation and creativity, communication, portfolio building, mentorship and internship – considered as issues faced by students around the world.

Also, having observed the perennial lack of (or poor) financing in the sector, Olusola aims to create a surging drive for spending in the sector through the book. He also intends to push for a change in the curriculum through various efforts.

“My book is about what school doesn’t teach us. Anywhere you in go in the world, you will see there is a market gap between the students and the lecturer. For example, in Nigeria most parents tend to tell their children what to study in the university, and when they finish studying that thing, they realize, ‘This is not for me’,” Olusola said.

“Same thing in the United Kingdom. The students pick a subject at a particular time hoping that they love that subject, when they go to college of the university, they realize that that is not what they really want to do, and when they get to work, they don’t do what they studied. So we have graduates who are supposed to be in a particular field but they are not in that field,” he said.

Olusola said he was motivated to write the book after seeing that enough spending is not going into education, and companies and institutions only focus on entertainment, fashion and sports for corporate social responsibility programmes. Even the government’s budgetary allocation to education over the years has been meagre, indicating that the sector is not receiving enough attention as the leading source of human capital development capable of driving sustainable economic growth.

Olusola said the reason he came to launch the book in Nigeria was to drive home the need to invest in education, informal and formal, and in the intellectual capability of students. He said the book would benefit people in America and in the United Kingdom, but it would be more beneficial to Nigeria as a country.

“I want to push the fact that government needs to spend more on education.  So the plan is for our educators, the government, the politicians, the individuals, companies to say we need to invest more in our education,” he said.

Adebola Olubanjo, chairman, Sobanjo Group, who was also one of the keynote speakers at the launch, said the book would help the educational sector in Nigeria.

“It will also help the individuals that are going to school especially, and the parents who are sending them to school to see the need for the children to have more than just formal education. They need to know the skills that the children need to have. So, if the children are going to school where the skills are not being taught, during their holidays, and spare time, their parents could help them fill the gap between what they are getting in school and what they will need in life,” Olubanjo said.

Dele Tejuosho, founder, Wifi Combat Academy, said he wished he had the book growing up as it would have prepared him for his own future.

“It talks about learning, continuous learning, because we’re now in the digital economy and it’s taking over every market sector. So whether you like it or not, you have to upgrade yourself in technology. So you have to know how to use the technology tools. It’s either you use technology to create or use technology to empower whatever your vocations are,” Tejuosho said.

DESMOND OKON