Ogun teacher using Yoruba to teach Maths, shortlisted for $1m Global Prize
Yinka ADETUNJI
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Kayode Adewale, a Nigerian award-winning teacher at Imagbon/Imaka Comprehensive High School, Imagbon, Ogun state, was shortlisted for a $1 million Global Teacher Prize (GTP) on Tuesday.
The Global Teacher Prize, presented annually by Varkey Foundation in collaboration with UNESCO and GEMS Education, recognises teachers with outstanding contributions to their profession.
Adewale blends the use of technology with his local language to teach mathematics, a subject he grew up loving and went on to study in tertiary institutions.
The awarding organisation said Adewale’s indigenous initiatives, as well his career successes, have impacted 30,000 teachers and helped students grasp complex mathematical concepts easily.
“His impact transcends the classroom. Kayode’s initiatives have trained over 30,000 teachers through the Transformation1090 Initiative, equipping them with the tools to integrate technology into their teaching practices,” the GTP said in a statement.
“As the founder of the Ogun517GoToSpace programme, he has inspired students and educators to explore space science, collaborating with global professionals, including NASA experts, to foster interest in STEM careers. Kayode’s commitment to environmental education shines through projects like tree-planting initiatives and climate change simulations, empowering students to understand their role in promoting sustainability.”
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Adewale’s journey to his latest feat began three years ago. He failed to give up on his dream of winning this coveted prize even though he had failed in his two previous attempts, he told The Punch in an interview on Sunday.
“I, however, want to say that it did not come by accident; it is something I have been working on for the past three years now. I have been putting in my application for the prize for the past three editions but I have not gone up to the top 100,” Adewale said.
“In fact, I lost hope at a point and nearly failed to apply this year. For this year, I submitted my application on the last day because of the seeming discouragement. It was a dream come true for me when I got the notification that I had been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize interview.
“I got across to the past winners to demand from them what I should prepare for, but they said nothing, and that I should only prepare to defend what I stated in my application and that was it because the Holy Spirit assisted me in answering all the questions directed at me.”
Adewale was the only Nigerian who made the shortlist; he was one of the seven finalists from Africa.
The educator has demonstrated through his career that he is passionate about Nigerian and African education ally underserved communities. His plans about the prize revolve around investing more in the education of the poor and empowerment of trainers.
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“It is $1m which is about N1bn, and what motivated me to apply for this prize was because of the numerous projects that I have in mind to execute to further expand the frontiers of excellence in teaching and learning in Nigeria and Africa,” he said during the interview.
“I want to be able to reach many more underserved communities in the continent. I want to scale down my technology-assisted instructional management into an app that students in Africa can use. This and many other projects ahead of me informed my decision to go for this noble prize.”
He is following in the footsteps of veteran educators, like Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, Nigeria’s first professor of education, in championing the use of and advocacy for students to be taught in their mother tongue during early childhood development.
“Yes, the approach I use in teaching mathematics in class is called culturally relevant pedagogy. This means using the primary language of the students or those things that the students are very familiar with to use them as instructional aids when teaching,” Adewale explained.
“As an Ijebu man who is teaching in Ijebu Land, I felt like ‘why not, if not?’ So, the very first day I used the dialect to teach in the class, I found out that some students who had been passive and would ordinarily not show interest became interested in what we were doing. I told the students, ‘Le mo lajiga nu yin’. Lajiga in Ijebu is something that looks like a cylinder such as a pail or bucket that we use to fetch water to bath or wash our clothes,” he explained.
“This experience gave me an inkling that using our local dialect or language could prove helpful in underserved communities. Since then, I adopted this pedagogical style and it has been paying off. This is what I said I should further do by having a presence online such as Facebook, with a YouTube channel which I started in 2020. Like the late Professor Babs Fafunwa, I am also an advocate of using our indigenous language to impart knowledge.”
Adewale’s previous honours include Ogun state’s best senior secondary school teacher in 2020, winning 30 laptops from Co-Creation Hub for his school in 2019, Ogun State Maltina Best Teacher of the Year 2022, shortlisted for the 2024 Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Programme, among others.
