Wale Odunlami speaks on success story of Cambridge College

Wale Odunlami is the Proprietor of Cambridge College, Ikeja, Lagos. In this interview with Prestige International Magazine, he spoke extensively on the success story of Cambridge College among other issues.

How did Cambridge College start?

We are twenty years old, we started in 1996 precisely. I am a Chartered Accountant; I was chairman of training committee of Ikeja District Society of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). After that experience I started a training outfit for those who decided to take ICAN exams. Later, some parents who came to make enquiries suggested that I could start something like Cambridge Advanced Level/HSC programme since government had scrapped Advanced Level programme in the country. That time we were at Ajao Road, off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja. That was the genesis of the birth of Cambridge College.

Is there any affiliation with Cambridge schools abroad?

Not that kind of affiliation, we started a centre to prepare students for Cambridge ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level exams. When we started we wrote Cambridge International Examinations Board (CIEB) through British Council of our plans to run Cambridge O/A Level programmes in Nigeria and there was no opposition, we were encouraged, we also registered with Corporate Affairs Commission and the rest is history. When we started our syllabus was tailored after University pre-degree programme and CIE. Since then we have been very successful.

What stands out Cambridge College?

It is the standard that stands us out because we have good quality lecturers. Another thing that stands us out is our good structure, from day one we put up a solid structure. The A level programme is normally two years but sometimes we run the programme in one year and our students always come out in flying colours. It is like prelim in the university, it is a condensed programme. At Cambridge College, we don’t help students to write exams, we teach and prepare students to pass their exams. It is the quality teaching that will make students pass their exams that we always give.

Let’s talk about the various programmes that are being run in the college?

We have a secondary arm, apart from WAEC and NECO we have SAT and TOEFL programmes; Cambridge accelerated One year A-Level; Cambridge Traditional two year A-Level; University Foundation programme (UFP); IGSCE and Cambridge Checkpoint.

How is the journey so far?

It’s been successful; the only thing is that a school of this nature is capital intensive. School project is not something that you start and start smiling to the bank immediately. It is not like running a bakery. One needs to have the willingness and foresight to fund education. We have committed millions over the years, we moved to GRA, Ikeja in year 2000. To get a location like this today you need 500 to 600 million naira, just for land alone in GRA, Ikeja, not to talk about putting up the structure and all the facilities. It is not a child’s play. We want government to support private schools and private initiatives in education because government cannot do it alone. Government can support by special funding like single digit interest loan provision, may be through the central bank or special agency of government.

Let’s talk about quality of teachers in Cambridge College?

We have experienced hands for teaching. All our teachers handling our students in various programmes are professionals. For our secondary arm, we also have good structures and experienced teachers.

What is the assessment of your students in their final exams?

We are the best in the land. We don’t really emphasize WAEC results much because that one is normal thing for our students to pass excellently. For the A-Levels and university foundation we advertise our results in national newspapers to show that we are the best in the land. Children of top class Nigerians pass through our school and they perform excellently.

What do you think is the cause of decline in standard of education in Nigeria?

The major cause is lack of attention to quality by either public schools or private schools. Lots of the parents don’t have the time to monitor their children. For instance now that we have social media, it is a lot of distraction for the children. Here, we monitor our students and follow their school works. Some schools especially secondary schools pay too much attention to extra curricula activities just to play to the gallery. For instance the recent declaration of WAEC that they recorded over 88 percent success in the last exam is  suspect. With what we are seeing, you can’t fool the whole world. How can you define a student that you pass that cannot go and excel in the next level of education locally and internationally? They have to compete with others at higher levels (i.e. tertiary levels, and that is where you observe the gaps or inadequacies.

What is your view on the scrapping of Post-JAMB in our universities?

It is bad enough, especially where there is no regulation for quality; it will not do the country and the industry any good.

What doest it cost to run a successful private school?

There must be commitment on the part of the founder. It is capital intensive and therefore there must be that commitment. You must be ready to pump in money and check after standard, vision and the mission. It is not a direct money making venture; anybody thinking that way will be deceiving himself.

Can we say that your educational and parental background enhanced your passion to nurture youths for better tomorrow?

Yes, of course, but some of us are lucky to have gone to one of the best universities. I am an alumnus of University of Ibadan and I trained as a Chartered Accountant. I was in practice and I was in ICAN Committee before this venture.

What are the areas you may want to advice government to look into critically educational wise?

First of all, government should ensure that the standard is maintained. Attention should also be focused on moral education that is what develops a nation. For the operators, there must be quality teachers on ground. On this note teacher training institutions should be encouraged with specialization. Then, the funding must be adequate. Also, we need to be steady and consistent with our structure and policy of education, not that today you are running 6-3-3-4 system and tomorrow is another system. This is not good enough.

What is your assessment of Nigerian universities?

We have good quality and very high standard in some of the old generation public universities. For the private universities I’m a bit skeptical, there are still good ones amongst them and there are some that are just coming up, in terms of quality and facilities.

What is your advice to parents?

Parents, invest in your children education because that is a lifelong asset for the children. The alternative is to buy ignorance. When you train a child you train a nation.