By Ganiu Bamgbose, PhD
I chose the above topic for this piece because I feel the only engagement more delicate than teaching is hawking raw eggs. Teaching is a sensitive occupation with two life-complex sides of the same coin. The relationship between a teacher and a student is one that may forever have the spark of a star or the memory of a scar. I will expatiate on this two-way relationship in subsequent paragraphs.
The first side to teacher-student relationship is the power asymmetry which forever shapes the student’s perception of the teacher. The school is the first place the student encounters strict rules and regulations. Usually, the strictest gesture the child gets from the home is warning. School is where every child encounters that person who can scold them and even fail them. School is the child’s first encounter with formal and regimented life. In fact, it is the child’s initial exposure to what can be called a government. One of the most difficult things for anyone to forget is how their teachers make them feel. Many people can remember vividly the attitude of their primary one teacher. This makes it important for every teacher to live an exemplary life; a life that shows excellence, radiates compassion, promotes diligence and shuns mediocrity. Teachers at all levels of education– primary, secondary and tertiary– must not abuse the power inequality between them and their students. Although compromise should not be considered as compassion and indiscipline should not be entertained under the guise of tolerance, a teacher must still be one who is seen to genuinely love and care for students because there is always a second phase where life puts you at the mercy of the students who have been at your mercy, and that is the second side to this piece.
In about a decade as a university teacher, I have experienced the reversal of power in student-teacher relationship. The most shocking one for me was becoming a lecturer to my primary two teacher who decided to further her schooling after decades of bagging the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE). Finding her in class one evening, I prostrated in a way that gave me joy and left her embarrassed. Of course I gladly told her classmates how motherly she was to me and us all in my class. However, I had wished it was my primary one teacher who liked my classmate who knew Mathematics but had no interest in me for knowing English. A 7/10 score in Mathematics was more significant to her than a 10/10 in English. Hers was like the case in George Orwell’s Animal Farm; all students were equal but those who liked and knew Maths were more equal. I could not have disrespected her but I certainly would not have spoken so warmly about her and hers could not have also been a full prostration.
Coming to me also on the other side of the scenario, like the MTN slogan (everywhere you go), my students await me in the weirdest of places to imagine. You cannot sneak in and out of anywhere; the PA to the commissioner/governor/president was your student, the permanent secretary to that ministry was, the manager of that organisation was, the sale attendant in that shop was, your son’s teacher in his school was. Even the cashier in your bank was and depending on who you were to them in the first half of the life match you may get a seat while your cheque is being processed or be made to stay longer in the queue if they are unforgiving.
Teachers become as powerless as they have been powerful and the consequences of their actions, reactions and inaction follow them everywhere. During these times, we then, as teachers, have to start explaining what we meant and did not mean, what we did and did not do if and only if these old students who have become busy in life have the time to listen to stories. Otherwise, we live and leave with the joy or guilt of how we have handled our delicate job as teachers. May God help us all to be good teachers.
(c) 2025 Ganiu Bamgbose writes from the Department of English, Lagos State University.
