With the unemployment statistics in Nigeria becoming unbearable and the economic situation also on the downside, with food and core inflation on the rise monthly, it is obvious that Nigeria needs to urgently devise means to get out of the woods.
One of such means could be through upscaling of skills through skill acquisition mechanisms and also the promotion of entrepreneurs as well as evolution of the education system that allows not only for academics but aligns with the present day reality of skill acquisitions being an added advantage for academic qualification.
To fill this yawning gap and lead the way to the future, Success Learning Centre, which is a model or operation under what is known as ‘International Computer Driving License (ICDL)’ has come to the rescue.
This brand of education focuses on making both employers and students become employable and entrepreneurs. Mr Kolawole Bakare is the promoter of this model of education through his Success Learning Centre located in the Opebi area of Lagos State.
Paradigm shift
Speaking on this development, Bakare, who is the Managing Director of Success Learning Centre, noted the imperative of paradigm shift in the present education system of the country, saying: “Education in Nigeria needs a lot more change from the paradigm shift that you must read a full four year degree course, where you remain in one place and when you come out you can’t even get a job.”
According to him, the new model that is globally recognised and growing faster is a model that allows for micro credentials rather than going to the university for four years acquiring a degree. It is the realisation of this that gave birth to his Success Learning Centre, which allows for the acquisition of skills and academics through the micro credentials scheme.
He said: “The courses offered here are purely certificate courses, one of the certificate courses is Entrepreneurship. If you are working somewhere and you don’t have a degree, then you come here, we teach you on Entrepreneurship here, which means you can set up a business of your own.
“So, if you come here and do a three-month course, we counsel and guide you on how you can start your own business; and that is how I started this. I started with two computers, we have the facilities for rent and it is all about business. Once you teach people how to run a business, you can encourage them on how to express themselves.
“Here, when we guide you or do anything, we also help you to get an internship and look for companies where you have to go and work and when you start work, we will keep on encouraging you to start a business outside your work.” Speaking further he said: “SLC courses are non-credit certificates courses run for a period of three months where you are expected to make your choice, either you learn online or you attend physically at the Centre.
“These courses are; Business Administration certificate courses, Entrepreneurship certificate courses and ICT certificate courses and they are all under accredited testing Centre for International Computer Driving License (ICDL) but in reality it is International Certification in Digital Literacy.
“So, if you do an ICT course, we have about 45 courses that you can do here. If you do any of our courses, anywhere you go in the world, once you put down your number, it will show everything you did and every thing you can do as a person. “Of course, you know the world is growing globally, so it becomes a smaller village and once you are out there that you have these credentials, it will help you to get a job faster.”
Target audience
On the target market, he said: “First of all, we are looking at those students who are about to finish their WAEC, and they have not decided on what profession they want to go into, course or training. “Then those that have challenges of the pain to go to the university, now the idea is to help them to get to online learning and physical learning here. Online learning is cheaper than physical learning. “So it is easier for people to know where to get quality education at a cheaper rate.
We need to develop ourselves either in skills or academics and this is where we are trying to help people into the academic line.”
Before the advent of the Success Learning Centre, Bakare recalled his journey through the years saying: “Back in 1997, I opened a computer training school, because I was fortunate to have learnt how to use the computer as far back as 1992/93 and I found out that it was a novel idea that people were wondering how do you operate a computer, what are the magic things that happen in the computer? Then, I decided that it was better to help other people to learn it.
Self-development
“Over the years the computer training school continued to grow and eventually metamorphosed into what we have today. “I was fortunate to go back to school at the age of 46 to get my first degree and between that time and now which is just 13 years I have two Master degrees, the place I am working I have been promoted more than five times because of these academic qualifications I have been getting.
“I know that it’s something that people need to develop themselves, either with skills or academics, and that is why we are trying to help people to fine tune their academic line.” He further explained that it is not only the students that benefit from this model of education as the employers too can benefit from it as well.
This is as he said: “It is not just only the students, you remember that I was at the age of 46 after working for 16 years before going to school to get a first degree. I had six children before I now went back to get my first degree.
“I also started with computer training and it was that skill that helped me to maintain a family. I was using the computer itself as I was working in a construction company as an operator for 16 years. I grew from being a computer operator to becoming the Executive Assistant to the owner of that construction company only with the computer certification that I did for six months.
“So that skill and ability to be able to grow, learning other different skills, added to what I have made me to realise that as long as you are developing yourself there is no way you will lose. Different things were coming and as they were coming and I was growing with it. “The director, an Indian man, whom I taught how to use a computer, was now the one who paid my scholarship to study in America where I read Business Management.”
