The Adventures of Mr Okonta
Episode 3: I Dare You To Leave Your School For Two Months If You Can…
Adebare Egunjobi
INTRODUCTION
Mr Okonta was sick. He needed to go for medical treatment outside the country. It was a confidential trip known only to members of his family. He handed over to his School Administrator. WhatsApp doesn’t work in the country he went to and the medical procedures did not support receiving calls. He would be away for two months and would be incommunicado for that long.
BOLA AND BENSON
Bola and Benson are both SS3 students in Mr Okonta’s school. They were caught exchanging love letters. The School Administrator handed them 2 weeks suspension each!
The parents weren’t comfortable with the decision
“This is just a love letter – who didn’t do this in secondary school? So what if they were caught kissing or something?” One of the parents queried.
Believing that the sanction far outweighs the offence and moreso the children claimed that there have been similar cases in the past with less stringent sanctions, the parent withdrew his four children from the school!
MRS OBANOR
Mrs Obanor paid the school fees of her three children within the first week of resumption. By the fourth week however, the relocation plan for her first child worked out and that made her to demand for the refund of the child’s fees.
The Vice Principal was of the opinion that four weeks equivalent be calculated and the remaining balance refunded to her. But the
School Administrator thought otherwise. Parents can come up with funny calculations of refund henceforth which will be too complicated. He thus ruled on no refund. Mrs Obanor got angry and withdrew all the three children from the school.
MOHAMMED ALI
Ali is a new student in the school. He was given an ultimatum to get the school uniform but he defaulted. About three weeks after his resumption, he came to school in the uniform of his former school. The School Administrator felt this is not right. “This has grave legal implications for our school and after repeated warnings, I have no choice than to send him out of the school” That was how Ali was sent out of the school. This did not go well with Ali’s parents. Ali never returned to the school again.
UNCLE TADE AND AUNTY IDAH
They are both teachers in Mr Okonta’s school. Uncle Tade was teaching Biology while Aunty Idah was teaching Food and Nutrition. They started dating each other in the school for some time after which they decided to take the game to a higher level to get married. Their invitation card came out and Uncle Tade went with all excitement to the School Administrator’s office to present one to him. The invitation was received with mixed reactions “while I am happy that you are getting married Uncle Tade, I am sorry to inform you that the two of you cannot get married in the same establishment. The distractions will affect your official responsibilities. So the two of you should please resign before the wedding date. You can reapply later if you so wish”
This was an insult to Uncle Tade who would be clocking 10 years in the school that Summer.
It first looked like a joke carried too far, but when at the end of the month they refused to resign, the School Administrator wasted no time, they were sacked!
LINDA
Linda was pregnant. She was an SS3 student in Mr Okonta’s school. She was getting ready to write her WASSCE.
She was four months pregnant and the tummy has started bulging out. It was an embarrassing situation for the parents but they chose to take it in good fate. They appealed to the School Administrator to allow the girl to write the final examination but the School Administrator declined completely. Linda couldn’t write the exam. That would set a bad precedent for other students in the nearest future and would be a bad commentary on the moral posture of the school.
Out of anger, the parents withdrew their two other children from the school.
HAJIA MEMUNAT
Hajia Menunat insisted that her two girls be allowed to wear Hijab as part of their fundamental human right as enshrined in the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria and as interpreted and declared by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The School Administrator allowed her for the first three weeks of resumption and Hajia Menunat settled well for the school. Some Christian parents started mounting pressure on the School Administrator and by the end of the fourth week, he announced on the assembly ground that hijab was no longer allowed in the school. Hajia Menunat felt deceived and angrily took her two children away.
DEMON OF VIOLENCE
It was as if the demon of violence was unleashed in the school on this particular day. Two boys in the Primary School fought each other, no wound was recorded. Two boys in the Junior Secondary School also fought seriously, there were wounds and injuries but no blood was shed.
Another set of two boys fought violently in the Senior Secondary School, there was a trace of blood on their shirts. They were all brought to the School Administrator’s office. Expecting different measures of sanctions for each set, the teachers and all the students were surprised when the overwhelmed School Administrator announced his decision: all the six students were expelled.
UNCLE TOM
The School Administrator decided to conduct a Refresher Examination for all the teachers who were preparing students for external examinations in the school. Though many teachers resisted this idea but he insisted. Uncle Tom, one of the good teachers in the school scored 49.5%. The cut off mark was 50%. The School Administrator gave him two options: have your salary slashed by half or reapply.
Neither of the two options sat well with Uncle Tom and the School Administrator threatened him with an outright sack. The other teachers rose in solidarity with him and all of them threatened mass resignation if the School Administrator did not change his position.
MR OKONTA’S RETURN
It was at the height of this brouhaha that Mr Okonta returned to the school.
He reversed the decision of the School Administrator.
The School Administrator got really infuriated. “How would a teacher preparing students to write WAEC Examination in Economics not be able to score C6 in Economics and such a teacher be retained?” The School Administrator challenged Mr Okonta.
“And how can we risk losing all our teachers at a go like this?!” Mr Okonta countered
“They won’t go anywhere. At least not all of them. It was just a threat, it was just a test of our will to see whether we would uphold our standard or not” The School Administrator tried to explain.
After a lot of back and forth, Mr Okonta maintained his position to reverse the decision and the School Administrator angrily resigned.
He started his own school a few months later on the advice of some parents and got a sizable number of those sympathizing parents and even some teachers from Mr Okonta’s school to join him.
Mr Okonta was devastated
ASK YOUR COACH
Mr Okonta regretted losing the School Administrator. In his heart of hearts, he knew that the School Administrator meant well and had a good mind to uphold the standard for his school, but he could really be high-handed and overboard many times.
At this juncture, Mr Okonta remembered his presentation at the Elite Parents Meet. He remembered the chatty woman and her husband. He remembered the paper the man gave him and the phone numbers written on it. He decided to call the Manager. He badly needed a physical meeting with the Coach this time around, not an online engagement. He was ready to pay any sacrifice required to get to the Coach’s office.
He had questions that he believed the Coach will have answers for.
AM I WRONG?
Mr Okonta explained to the Coach all that transpired in his absence and rounded off his tragedy with the questions that kept bothering his heart:
1. Am I wrong to have left the school when I did?
2. Am I wrong to have delegated the power to him?
3. Am I wrong to have reversed his decision?
4. Am I wrong to have allowed him to leave the school?
5. Am I wrong?
YOU WERE NOT WRONG
The Coach sympathized with Mr Okonta and answered his questions one after the other.
1. You were not wrong to have travelled. You won’t be around in your school forever
2. You were not wrong to have delegated power to the next in line. No system can exist in a vacuum
3. You were not wrong to have reversed the decision. You have the final say in your school and the buck stops on your table. You should never be bullied or blackmailed to take any decision by your subordinate which you are not comfortable with. Else, your hands may be tied forever by the same people that you employ.
4. You are not wrong to let him go. You didn’t sack him. He resigned. Since you are not ready to concede to his conditions, the best decision is to let him go
YOU ARE WRONG
“But to the last question,
5. YOU ARE WRONG!” The Coach changed the gear suddenly
“How and where” Mr Okonta asked, puzzled.
“You are wrong not to have any policy documents with which you run your school Mr Okonta”
“But we have students handbook and staff handbook” Mr Okonta argued faintly
“Fine. But those books are not comprehensive enough to capture all the scenarios that happened in your school while you were away”
“And any book would have captured all that?” Mr Okonta asked, almost laughing cynically, puzzled and bemused at the same time
“Yes. A school policy document would have! It is more detailed, it is more comprehensive and it covers almost all areas of school life and community that you can ever think of. It’s scope is far broader than Students and Staff Handbooks”
“Really?” Mr Okonta was getting more seriously interested
“That is where all the policies guiding the governance and operations of a school are warehoused” The Coach continued in his usual unassuming style
“All the scenarios that happened in your absence would have been perfectly covered in the policy document and the School Administrator and the entire community would have known what to do without any sentiment!”
“Is there any document like that in reality Coach?
The Coach laughed, surprised that Mr Okonta could ever ask such a question after his years of experience as a school owner!
“Of course there is, Mr Okonta!” The Coach said solemnly, ready to tutor him now like a Kindergarten in Policy Management “It is called School Policy Book or a School Policy Document and it contains over 100 policies which you can adapt to your own taste!”
“Unbelievable! 100 policies!” Mr Okonta exclaimed “How come I have not heard or come across any in my 15 years of running a school Coach?” Mr Okonta was almost shouting at this stage
MSDI
“I am equally surprised Mr Okonta and I should be the one asking you that question. It simply means that you have been taking decisions in your school based on MSDI for the past 15 years!”
“Which one is MSDI again?” Mr Okonta quizzed
“It is the basis of taking decision in any organization where there is no guiding policy” the Coach replied as calmly as he could “It is called Mood, Sentiment, Discretion and Initiatives. It simply means that you have been running your school based on your mood, your sentiments, your discretion and your initiatives for the past 15 years Mr Okonta. While discretion and initiatives are necessary tools for an entrepreneur, they are not sufficient enough to run a lasting and sustainable business”
“Hmnnnnn” Mr Okonta was at a loss of words
“If you had been around what would have been different between your decisions and school administrator’s decisions? The Coach asked rhetorically “The difference would have been largely your sentiments and your mood coupled with your discretion. And it wouldn’t have been uniform. Even you cannot say that this is exactly what you would have done. Without a policy document in an organization, the decision compass is lost and decisions are taken haphazardly”
“Hmnnnnnn” Mr Okonta couldn’t form any words again.
How come this Coach always speaks to his head and heart all the time like this
A MINI CONSTITUTION
“If you had a comprehensive school policy book, your School Fees Refund Policy would have taken care of Mrs Obanor’s case, your Staff Relationship Policy would have taken care of Uncle Tade and Aunty Idah’s case, your Teachers Assessment and Evaluation Policy would have taken care of Uncle Tom’s case, your Sex Related Behaviors Policy would have taken care of Linda and Bolade and Benson’s cases, your Students’ Deviant Behaviours Policy would have taken care of the fighting scenario, while your School Uniform Policy would have taken care of Ali’s and Hajia Menunat’s cases. In that case, all the parents, teachers and parents would have known what the school policy says about each case and what the sanctions should be. No one would have been hurt or felt unjustly treated”
“So the policy book is like a mini constitution of a school then?” Mr Okonta chipped in, amused by the discovery
“Exactly” The Coach replied, glad that Mr Okonta was getting the point “It is a constitution of your school that will be made available to every parent, teacher and student at the point of entry into your school. And there are over 100 of such policies that would have taken care of different foreseen and unforeseen scenarios. So, if you have had such a policy document in place before now, everyone would have known what to do, whether you were around or not!”
MENTAL EXHAUSTION, OPERATIONAL EXTINCTION
“Wonderful! I am one of the biggest and oldest school owners in this community, I am still surprised that I have not heard or come across any, Coach” Mr Okonta repeated
“That is why many school owners struggle so much and carry so much mental pressure. Decision making is tough and is the live wire of any organization. When all the decisions of an organization are tied around an individual person’s discretion and initiatives, he is at risk of mental exhaustion and the organization is at the verge of operational extinction when he is no longer available. That is why many school schools don’t survive the founders and those that do, don’t surpass!”
WHAT ELDERS USE TO EAT…
“So, some schools really have policy documents with over 100 policies in it, in reality in this country Coach?” Mr Okonta kept repeating the same question
“Yes, there are. But they are very few. What the elders used to eat pap, is usually hidden under the leaves” The Coach replied laughing before he continued “That is the difference between big schools and small schools, not necessarily in age or size!”
“Hmmmmn”
“This is the difference between education in the developed countries and in our clime. Over there where every school has standard infrastructural and curricular facilities, the only tool of differentiation to market a school is the peculiarity and contents of their policies as contained in their policy documents”
“Coach, do you have a copy of this book?” Mr Okonta asked almost impatiently
“Yes of course! That’s part of what we do for our clients – what we put under the leaves of the elders to eat pap” The Coach chuckled
“Please let me have a look” Mr Okonta pleaded like a child pleading for ice cream
The Coach drew out one of his drawers and brought out a bulky spiral binded document.
Mr Okonta jumped at it like a monkey jumping at a banana and started flipping through as if he was going to write an examination on the book the next minute. Excitement, curiosity, awe – all written over his face as he skimmed through the over 400-page voluminous document.
I DARE YOU TO LEAVE YOUR SCHOOL FOR TWO MONTHS, IF YOU CAN!
Mr Okonta was busy looking at the blue covered document on the table. Different thoughts flashing through his mind. This is why many school owners get drained physically, mentally and emotionally. This is why many school administrators hold the school owners to ransom. This is why accusations of partiality and injustice scatter schools. This is why many schools crash the moment the school owner is no more. This is why ‘Oyibo’ people always get it better than us, this is why many school owners cannot leave their schools for two months without recording loss and I dare any school owner to leave his school for 2 months if he can, without this document! This is why…
“Mr Okonta!” The Coach snapped him out of his dream world. “Are you still here?”
Mr Okonta jerked back to life.
“This is another journey of discovery for me Coach. You always take me on several discovery journeys each time I encounter you that I am beginning to wonder if this would ever end!”
“So what have you discovered today Mr Okonta?”
“I have discovered what the elders are using to eat pap under their leaves” They both laughed
CONCLUSION
Mr Okonta later got the template policy book from the Coach.
He purchased the premium copy (there was a basic copy and a premium copy)
He returned to his school, raised a policy formulation team and started adjusting and adapting the template document towards building his own policy document.
A functional school system is possible which will run on almost auto-pilot if a strong, professional, technical, comprehensive, robust and detailed policy document is in place.
What you know, you know.
What you don’t know, you don’t know.
You are what you know!
What elders use to eat pap…
INTROSPECTION AND DIGESTION
Share your thoughts and lessons from today’s lecture and what stand out for you from Mr Okonta’s issues