Some Nigerians have taken to the X platform (formerly Twitter) to react to the post by the Chief Executive Officer of Educare, Alex Onyia, who said he had to read Primary Three English textbook in order to improve his grammar.
Onyia had posted on his X handle on Monday that he followed the advice of the former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, who told him to go back to Primary Three textbooks if he wanted to rebuild his foundation in English.
He wrote: “A few months ago, my grammar was not particularly great, especially here on X.
“Then, one beautiful morning, I received a call from Dr. Oby Ezekwesili that changed that aspect of my life forever. She advised me to go back to Primary 3 (textbooks) and rebuild my foundation in English.
“She said something profound: Once you fix the foundation, everything else begins to fall into place.
“I took her advice wholeheartedly. I went back to study Primary 3 Grammar and Comprehension, and that simple decision transformed my command of English.
“I remain deeply grateful to Dr Ezekwesili for that invaluable piece of advice. It’s impact on my life has been remarkable. But this experience taught me something much bigger about education.
“Many of us are struggling today, not because we lack intelligence, but because we are building on weak educational foundations.
“We keep trying to fix problems at the top when the real problems are at the bottom. Sometimes, the greatest form of progress is having the humility to go back to the basics and rebuild properly.
“You cannot build excellence on a foundation you have refused to repair.”
His post elicited much reactions from the people, some of who said they had also decided to go back to the basics.
@SirJarus wrote: “This was what I did to get over my maths challenge too. In SS 2, I went back to JSS 1 maths textbook and started building from there. Self-learning.
“My brain as a 16-year-old in SS2 clearly better than as an 11-year-old when I was originally in JSS 1, so I grasped it better.
Then I moved to JSS 2 maths, then JSS 3, then SS1. All within weeks.
“I ended up being good in maths. I did by going back to basics as an adult.”
Chikezie Chiedu wrote: “Repeatedly, I tell people, primary education is the most consequential education one can receive.”
Gimba Kakanda: “One thing I wish to leave behind for my kids is a habit of reading and a study full of books. That’s what my father did. I grew up in a house with a room full of books, and I became obsessed with them, stealing books to read. When he was ill and mostly away, I spent my days in his study, reading all types of books. At some point, I began to imitate what I read by writing down my own thoughts and ideas.
“Even though I grew up with my native language as the primary language in our household, the books were my escape, and I never had to struggle with basic grammar. I have never struggled with an English language test or exam even as a science student. By the time I was reading Brighter Grammar, I had already absorbed the rules from the books I had read.
“So, reading is your surest bet. The AI age may seem to have rendered these skills obsolete, but in-person exams, whether IELTS or exams in any subject taught in English, will always be there to expose you.”
Dr Vickie: “I have very vivid memories of my early primary education. Primary 3 and 4 especially. And that tells me they did a good job. All the brighter grammar and Primer English books we read. Yes. I’ve always believed that the foundation of good grammar and English comprehension lies in primary education.”
Ike Pentecost: “Give an average person this advice and watch your friendship crumble. I will take this advice too.”
Saidu Saidu wrote: “I remember a lecturer in my 3rd year of university made us buy Brighter Grammar. It actually improved our English.”
Dami Mogaji: “If you have an issue with grammar, sentence structural and the likes, just get a hold of Brighter Grammar 1-4. You’ll be shocked the progress you’ll make in no time.”
Akinade Abiodun: “Solid advice. I did something similar. I began reading classic literature and that paid attention to proper English structure. One of such is E.B White’s The element of style.”
@baro_eleniyan: “I can relate with this. After 100 level in Economics, I had to go and get a maths lesson teacher because I knew I was going to struggle with some maths that were applicable in economics.”
Ikenyelugo Ichi: “Alex, thank you for sharing this, I will gladly go back to it and fix my grammar too.”
Muyiwa Matuluko: “I’ve found, as an editor, that subject-verb agreement is one of the major problems many struggle with. And I even find similar errors in some textbooks my children use today. They will not have a broken foundation under my watch.”
@boxy: “Primary three grammar and comprehension text books. That is where you learn the basics of tenses, sentence construction, and how to structure your grammar properly.”
