•Mrs. Ruth Olusheye Awobiyi Photo: Sun News Publishing

Woman of the Sun Index

A teacher’s reward, they say, is in heaven. But that is not so for Mrs. Ruth Olusheye Awobiyi, 53, the principal of Methodist Girl’s High School, Yaba, Lagos. She won the Best Principal of the Year Award, out of the 70 Methodist missionary schools in Nigeria. Like with every achievement, success goes with celebrations, goodwill, and happiness.

How did she feel when eyes fixed at her as the chosen one? “ Hmm I Give glory to God, I felt proud and happy. The award has given me the challenge to do more. Then it has proved that the teacher’s reward is here on earth as well”.

The award, conferred by Conference of Methodist Clerics (the highest policy making body in Methodist church) according to Awobiyi was preceded by a study of all the 70 principals of missionary schools in Nigeria.

“ It was my husband who saw the vacant position of a principal on the pages of a newspaper. He drew my attention to it, but I was a bit reluctant because then I was the vice principal of Araromi Secondary School. I told myself I do not want to go from a known school to an unknown one. But after all that, my husband encouraged me to apply.”

Fifteen candidates were invited for the interview and that same night Awobiyi was called to come and take up the offer. “ It was dilly-dally for two years before I took up the post. So, I believe its God’s work”.

The mother of four then painted how she finally wore the coveted crown. “ When I came to the school, I met deteriorated structures, unpaid salaries and lackadaisical attitude of students to academic work. Other challenges were low morale of teachers and unparalled freedom at work.
“I solicited for the help of the Old Girls Association, Board of Governors and also we sensitized parents on the reason for letting them pay their ward’s school fees early”.

With time the seed she planted began to germinate. The orientation of the students and the teachers changed. “ We converted one of our old buildings into a boarding facility with 15 girls that later progressed to 70 and 240 respectively. Unpaid salaries were cleared and it became regular.
“The committee saw how we were able to turn things around, moved the standard of education forward, kept good financial record and maintained cordial relationship among the staff. The students also won so many academic awards during my leadership. These were some of the things that qualified me for the award. Then the 70 principals and their vice were invited to a 4-day workshop. At the end of it all, I was chosen as the best principal for the 70 schools”.

Married to Mr. Ayotunde Awobiyi, journalist, she is worried about the ostentatious lifestyles and loud aspirations of the present day generation who do not think of what tomorrow holds.
She points fingers in the direction of female bankers who she describes as one of the chief culprits. “ I want to advise career women to go back to the drawing board and discover their primary role as mothers. An example is a student who fainted in class one morning because she was unfed. A lot of career women do not cook, instead they feed from eateries”.

Awobiyi adds: “A student will come to school with unkempt hair and dirty sandals. This is because when these children are still in bed their parents are already on their way to work. So, when they wake up what they see is what they get.”

Awobiyi also expressed concern on the low moral upbringing of the young ones. “The attention is not enough on the children’s moral upbringing. There is no doubt that these career women have money to spend but no parental guidance for their children”.
Happiness for her comes when she has trained so many future leaders. “ I thank God who has counted me worthy to be a teacher and rise to become principal of a school where hard work and dedication is appreciated”.

Ask her to compare life in public school and private missionary, and she answers this way:” Not all private schools are good and not all public schools are bad. Good moral and education belong to the missionary schools while class consciousness is the rule for most private schools”.