Harvard Professor, Jacob Olupona pays tribute to his Alma Mater at 70
On February 25th, 2024, the Old Students of Gboluji Anglican Grammar School (GGS) will gather in Ile-Oluji, Ondo State, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding. This one-week celebration is an occasion to praise God and remember the Anglican tradition and the community that gave birth to it. It would also be a period to reminisce on the labours of the forebearers who built the solid secondary school institution to which thousands of students across generations came to study, thereby lifting them from poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy.
In addition, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the GGS founding provides an occasion to plumb the institution’s history to reveal its long tradition of delivering crucial moral education and knowledge, including the values of hard work, to every youth that has passed through its portals. GGS, in its 70 years of history, has come to symbolize the best virtues in adroit love for one’s community and nation, exemplary leadership and kindness. Founded on Christian principles, the school has also become an epitome of civic responsibility and an example of the unconditional love of God and one’s neighbour. Since its inception, the school has taught its students the cardinal Christian ethic of care.
It was in 1954 when the Ile-Oluji community partnered with the Anglican Church in the then Ondo-Benin Diocese to build a secondary school to educate young boys in the town and its surrounding neighbourhood. The two critical players were the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese, the revered and learned Cleric, S.O. Odutola, and the traditional sovereign HRH Oba Adeseko, Odundun II, who represented the church and the community, respectively, signed the government’s deed that established the school. Prominent community members donated the massive grounds on which the school now stands.
GGS has since produced many distinguished alumni who have served in high positions in government, private sectors, academics, military, and other fields. These distinguished alumni include figures such as Major General Olu Bajowa, the former Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army; Sunday Ehindero, the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police; Bishop Amos Fagbamiye, retired bishop of ADOTT, USA; Chief Dele Fajemirokun, a business tycoon and entrepreneur and whose late father Chief Henry Fajemirokun a native of the town and legendary business mogul had the foresight to send him to GGS for the HSC; Samuel Adegboyega, a successful oil engineer; Dr. Isaac Akintunji, former Director of Medical Services, Nigeran Airport Port Authority; and Debbie Ajewole, Yeye Oba Olumuroko Ijesha Land; Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, former Governor of Ondo State; Dr Afolabi Adewakun, a former Permanent Secretary and the President of GGS National Association and many others. Built on Gboluji hill in the Ondo state, likened to the Biblical symbol of the city built on a hill that cannot fall, GGS had humble beginnings.
God, in Zechariah 4:10, admonished His people not to despise the days of little beginning. The Lord’s joy was evident over the humble beginning of Gboluji Grammar School 70 years ago. That humble beginning provided a solid foundation that molded the school and imbued its graduates with a unique sense of humility, self-discipline, and, more importantly, a prayerful life.
The five-year-plus grammar school cycle of rigorous education and learning has served its students exceptionally well later in life as they joined the workforce. The school regimen, which included daily prayer, manual labour, sports, and stringent academic endeavours, especially placed students in vantage positions to excel in their life pursuits.
Since its founding, the nature of GGS and its exemplary graduates have been subjects of exciting stories. I often remember a particular one regarding one of my mates in the Class of 1969, who was recruited to work as a clerk in Lagos immediately after graduating from the school. His uncommon diligence at work soon caught the attention of his employers, who sent emissaries to the GGS to plum the origin of his uncommon work ethic.
Indeed, God is worthy of praise for the vision and labours of our forebearers, and especially for the impressive footprints of the school on the sands of time. Also worthy of commendation are the human agency of teachers, principals and the community who played their parts in elevating the school to its exceptional social and academic heights.
The celebration of God’s goodness on exemplary achievements of our school over the last 70 years is also an opportunity to reflect on what lessons our nation, Nigeria, can learn from GGS about its existence and status. Where do we as a community and a nation go from here, especially given the myriad unpleasant changes to GGS and other secondary schools in the country?
GGS has always occupied an important place in my mind since I graduated in 1969 and briefly returned for a one-year HSC before proceeding to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study Religion. What makes the school great and exceptional? How should we restore its lustre, dignity, and past glory? What should we do to reverse the decline, fix and restore the school as a thriving model for other secondary schools and public education in Nigeria? What can we do to make our alma mater the exceptional academic citadel it once was?
The number one item on the road to recovery is to enlist a high calibre of teachers, the type we were privileged to learn from during our student years at GGS in the 1950s and 1960s. I still recall many of our teachers and marvel at their intellect and pedagogy. I remember my history teacher, Mr. Eniola Oni (aka Oni Coco). His nickname derived from his usual description of lazy students as coconut heads. Besides making the students laugh, Mr. Oni’s jokes always make us realize why we must be very serious in school. An Ibadan-trained graduate and a true polyglot, he could teach any subject in the humanities, including History, Latin, French, and English. Mr Oni taught in a way that enabled students to learn quickly and master the subjects. So also, was Mrs. V.O. Oni, headed the coeducational wing of the school, where she expertly tutored an uncommon combination of English literature and Mathematics to her students.
Though GGS was primarily an arts and humanities college at its founding, it gradually introduced the science wing, especially with the assistance of a few expatriates, such as Dr. Bill Palmer, Mr. and Mrs. Currien, and of course, our biology teacher, Chief Femi Fasuyi. The school soon built a reputation as a school where STEM matters. This focus on STEM prepared students to read medicine and Engineering in Nigerian Universities, and GGS can boast of numerous medical doctors and learned Engineers in the nation.
Furthermore, the school’s coeducational program distinguished GGS, particularly in the leadership training provided by the famous Mrs. V.O. Oni, who took all the girls under her care as their surrogate mother at school. Stories of learning and mentoring under her during that period are still recalled daily by her former students. The introduction of science wing, girls’ education and the HSC program were major developments in GGS’s evolution into the modern school it is today.
Back in the day, the background and training of the teachers prepared them fully well for training young minds and moulding them into future leaders. Their depth of brilliance was palpable and infectious and inspired my teaching at Harvard, so much so that whenever my students ask about my training, I begin with Gboluji Grammar School. It is an experience one always remembers. It is always in my mind and follows everywhere in my practice.
Apart from ensuring a quality roster of teaching staff, improving the present state of infrastructure in the school is imperative. Consequently, the old students have suggested creative ways of responding to the current dearth of facilities in the school, principally caused by the government takeover of schools and the unsavoury intervention of the military. Many schools like GGS have become ghosts of their old selves. A group of GGS alumni based in Canada, the USA, and Nigeria, known as the GGS Impact Group, have therefore proposed the creation of a large endowment, which we will invest to generate annual resources for developing and restoring the school’s honour, prestige, and dignity. To launch the endowment, I have written an almost 300-page book titled In Pursuit of Excellence, Truth, and Learning:Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji, 1954-2024, and to be released on February 25th. We aim to raise 1 billion naira initially from the official launch.
Another pressing concern for us is the intergenerational issues between the alumni of our great school. The anniversary will present an occasion for alumni to interact across the generations, including with current students in the school. This occasion shall be a sober moment for everyone and offer opportunities to dwell on the issues of declining morals and civil education.
As I have alluded to in this essay, for the older generation, this intergenerational celebration of our anniversary reminds us of the strong impact of GGS in our lives. Therefore, we must rethink how best to restore some of the traditional values that have elevated and sustained us through our lives and careers for many decades. New dispensations in today’s secondary schools have created layers of problems that require alumni interventions in the conversation, especially regarding what to do about the school’s present and future.
While writing the book In Pursuit of Excellence, Truth, and Learning: Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji, 1954-2024, I was reminded of how GGS shaped not only my life but also the lives of countless students. During our extensive interviews with former students and teachers, they all expressed their gratitude to GGS and the strong community there. GGS instilled in its students the value of hard work, integrity, and the idea that learning is a communal enterprise. In other words, we learned that academics is a collaborative endeavour where teachers and students motivate one another to be excellent. This approach to learning has informed my scholarship and research as I collaborate with other professors and locals. On that note, GGS taught us to strive together academically and to embrace our pluralism.
The founders laid the foundation of GGS on an egalitarian principle: to educate students no matter their ethnic background or Religion. In my class, we had Christians and Muslims, which reflected the Anglican faith’s commitment to education and religious pluralism. However, I am afraid that we have forgotten these fundamental values today.
What does the future hold, especially with the physical dilapidations, students’ lawlessness, and the dearth of government support for public education, a problem not just limited to GGS but is all over the country? The old students have decided to take the bull by the horns in answering this question by trying to rescue by arresting the decay and rebuilding the school to situate it for a better present and more prosperous future.
Specifically, we are embarking on the fencing of the large land grant donated by kind-minded community leaders at its founding in 1954. This fencing is necessary to stop public infringement on the school perimeters. The school is also beginning to introduce modern teaching and learning methods through technology in the classroom, requiring all learners to be computer literate.
We must also assist the parent-teacher association in maintaining discipline and providing personnel by recruiting additional classroom teachers to complement the ones hired by the state. There is a need to rethink what to do with the almost abandoned buildings, such as some dormitories and the residential quarters built for the teachers and others. The idea of creating the boarding school system was a significant trend of the past and was a vital project at that time for the upbringing and training of boys and girls. The time has come to create a new residential program focusing mainly on training secondary school graduates in entrepreneurship and teaching the students practical skills that will lead to job creation. In that sense, the school will still maintain its old identity and bear the names of its forebearers while preparing the students for profitable employment.
In other words, we are creating something new out of the old. In this context, as we begin to reimagine the future, we must deemphasize paper certificates and emphasize skills and training. For example, we may borrow from the US and Europe, where some high school students, in addition to formal education, are deeply into vocational training. They learn how to repair cars and are engaged in other vocational education that enables them to gain employment and become self-sufficient entrepreneurs. These suggestions require in-depth thinking and planning.
Whichever course the school decides to take, the alumni have agreed that Gboluji, in its post-70th anniversary, must emerge as a new institution that can respond to the challenges of our time. No one should wait for the state to take the lead in deciding the future of our children and grandchildren and our beloved school. I look forward to continuing to celebrate the anniversary of our excellent school this week and working together to secure its future.
· Olupona, NNOM, is chair of the Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
