By: James Ezema
Email: jamesezema@yahoo.com

Lagos State Association of Supervisors for Education, LASEDUC, comprising of 57 local councils  education Supervisors (from 20 Local Government Area and 37 Local Councils Development Area), has presented a seven-serial book on how to teach a child from the womb to primary two.

The serial to be released to public soon was titled Spelling Bee Development Serial Books, written to take care of the education need of children at the early stages of their development.

The association also said that it has repackaged the 30-Hour Compulsory Community Service and will soon present the proposal to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

In a chat with this writer, LASEDUC chairman and ex-vice chairman of Yaba Local Council Development Area, who was the supervisor for education in the local council, Hon. Oluwole Aladeteye, fondly called Olubasket, said: “The books are the first of its kind in the history of education. Now, a baby can be taught in the womb and when a pupil goes through the series from the womb to primary two that pupil will be a sound pupil in terms of spelling and reading, in fact, the pupil will be very sharp, very intelligent”.

Speaking during the presentation the books in Yaba, LASEDUC secretary and supervisor for education, Isolo local council, Hon. Prince Joseph Diala, said: “The common feature of the Spelling Bee Development Books is the ability and assurance that any child that goes through the development must develop a reading culture because the approach and techniques made the books unique and distinct from other such books”.

Aladeteye told this writer: “We were motivated to embark on the project after the July 2004 first Lagos State education summit organised by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to fine-tune and find away forward for Lagos State education tittled, ‘Shaping a new Vision ans Action for a more Functional Education in Lagos State’, which brought together all the 57 local councils’ supervisors for education in the state. It was quite a huge challenge and a kind of a declaration of state of emergency in the education sector in Lagos State. We told ourselves that there most be a legacy to leave behind, we must achieve something unique to uplift the standard of education in the state during our tenure. That was why we took up this research project, which today has yielded fruit as you can see”.

On how a child can be taught in the womb, he said: “Let me leak a secret of the book. I t may sound very funny. You see, the first thing is this, if you want a child to resemble anybody the woman likes, at the development stage, the first three months, if the mother picks a picture of the person she wants her child to resemble and looks at the picture with passion at least twice a day, for that three months, I’m telling you that baby will resemble the person in the picture. But it might not take up the character of the person.

Aladeteye continued: “After four months of conception, if you want to develop the brain of that child in the womb or you want to know if the brain is functioning, may be twice a day at a particular time, say every 10 a.m. and 2 a.m., depending on the convenience of the mother, if she normally sings, if she stops doing the same thing at that particular time, the baby will start kicking when that time reach. It will want to remind the mother that there is a particular activity she normally engage in at that particular time. In the same vein, the pregnant mother is the one who carries out the instructions contained in the book in case of the baby in the womb”.

The books’ title was named after the annual Spelling Bee Competition in Lagos State, an initiative of the New Era Foundation, a pet project of the former First Lady, Chief (Mrs) Oluremi Tinubu, a competition open only to pupils and students of the State Public Primary and Secondary Schools.

On the 30-Hour Compulsory Community Service where every SS 3 graduate was compelled to do some service to the local community, Aladeteye said: “We’ve taken it upon ourselves to see to the reintroduction of that programme. We’ve got the package ready. It is just like the National Youths Service Corp (NYSC) programme at the national level”.

well it can be true....mother child mutual relationship, God is so wonderful