-Ondo student who scored 370 in UTME 

Olumide Ayodeji Afolabi  recently shattered a long-standing record in this year Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), scoring 370, the highest mark recorded in over a decade. For more than 10 years, It is on record that no other candidate nationwide has achieved this. In this interview with The Hope, Olumide spoke about his secret,  influence of his parents towards achieving the feat.

Excerpts:

Can you  tell us your name, and how old you are?

My name is  Olumide Afolabi, and I am 15 years old.

What is your score at  this year edition of the UTME?

I got 370.

How were you able to achieve this landmark success?

In ICONS college, when we enter secondary school, we start with Physics, Chemistry and Biology. We already have knowledge of the subjects before we got admission to senior school. It helped to increase my interest in science subjects. After I entered senior secondary school, I got more interested in science. It drove me to get what I want.

Did you actually set your mind to achieve such a high score, and did you deliberately study towards it?

I set my mind to achieve a high score, but I didn’t set my mind to get 370. I wanted to get a high score.

Were you surprised that you were able to make such a landmark history?

I was not surprised that I got this score. I was surprised that nobody else had got this before.

Why were you not surprised that you got this score?

I felt confident in what I did.

What was the first reaction of your parents when they heard it?

They were excited, very excited.

What course do you want to study in the university?

Software Engineering.

Why do you want to study software Engineering?

The world is moving towards Software and computer. So I want to study Software Engineering.

Can you tell us how many hours you read in a day towards the exam?

I spent about eight to nine hours reading everyday.

Didn’t you face any form of distraction? How were you able to spend so much time studying? 

As a student, you are meant to be able to overcome such distractions and focus more on your studies, which is what really matters.

How many hours do you spend on social media per day?

Not much.

Do you even do social media at all?

I am on TikTok  and WhatSapp.

How do you try to strike the balance between  the social media and  your academics?

I would only enter those apps after I am done and I am sure that I have finished reading. 

Have you received any form of commendation or scholarship over this feat?

I have received from the school and from some people who care.

What role did your parents play in achieving this success?

They drove me constantly to continue to work on myself and try to achieve better, beginning with all the assessments that I did in Icons, including the mock UTME. They drove me to aim higher.

What advice will you give to a junior student who wants to sit for the next edition of the UTME?

I would just tell them that they should read but do not trust the past questions, because anything can come up. Just focus on the textbooks and read more and more.

Olumide made distinctions in his GCE result before 15 -Mother

Barrister (Mrs) Odunayo Iyiola-Afolabi is the mother of the UTME highest scorer, Olumide. She  also spoke with The Hope  on roles played by the  parents towards their son’s historical feat

Excerpts:

How did you feel when you saw your son’s UTME score?

I felt excited. I knew the stuff he was made of. It wasn’t so surprising, but at the same time, because of the mark, I was like, what? This could happen? I was excited, and at the same time, grateful to God for him, and thankful to his school, too, for grooming him the proper way.

Did you foresee such an impressive performance coming from him?

Yes, somehow, because they were always doing mock UTME. They had a series, in fact, plenty of such mock assessments ahead of the exam itself. So that, in a way, helped to have a slight overview of what was likely going to happen.

How would you describe the level of seriousness and discipline of your son?

He’s a very committed learner, and he’s blessed to have different types of learning styles. In education, there are four basic learning methodologies. In his case, he’s blessed to have plenty of learning methodologies. The major thing for him is to be in class. Once he attends classes and he listens to his teachers, that will have accounted for about 70 percent for him. Pushing him to study will now make him to go over… He said he read 200 percent. Even at the point he got to 200 percent, he was still reading. He didn’t stop. So that’s the thing.

He’s an auditory learner who listens in class and gets whatever he has to learn. Then he’s a reader and writer. He’s also kinesthetic. So those things actually worked for him.

Like how many hours does he spend studying in a day?

The school gave stringent guidelines and instructions as to their timetable. So based on the timetable, to which he strictly adhered. As for the school, a child needed to give a minimum of seven hours of reading daily, apart from classes, about a month or a month and a half to the exam. He followed it strictly. Then, he wasn’t given to night reading; so his reading was usually from morning till late into the night and very early in the morning. That was how he studied.

As a parent, while your son was preparing for the examination, what did you do differently that could have been responsible for such an outstanding result?

(Smile) The thing we had always been doing, push. We just kept pushing, kept asking what level he got to. We became his accountability partners. He had to read and he would give us feedback as to the level he had gotten to. If he had any difficulties, we would push him to get the difficulties sorted out. Both of us, his parents, are not science-oriented people. So we just relied on push. We kept pushing him, and we got so many textbooks for him. It had to be done with his textbooks. If he didn’t get anything from one, he would get it from another.

Ma, there are many social media platforms which some people have suggested could be responsible for the poor performance in the UTME. Do you actually give your children much time to spend on social media?

We believe that all work and no play will naturally make Jack a dull boy. So we do not preclude them from, not social media now, from screen time like television. In his case, he loves Discovery Channel. That’s what he watches, apart from football. So it’s not like he would be in any other place other than those two. Then, there are rules in the house that children follow.

If you have earned your screen time for the day, yes, even if you have an exam the following day, you would not be stopped from having your screen time. You know children can be very funny. You can’t really vouch and say, ah, this child cannot have access to social media. But I know he’s on WhatsApp. And of course, we give him data. So if he doesn’t have data, he doesn’t have access to it.

Also, we withdrew phones from him. In fact, for a long time, since last year, phone was taken from him, except when the school requested for him to use phone for whatever thing, and immediately afterwards, it would be withdrawn from him. So they will submit it in school. The school will give it to them when they were needed, when they were expected to use, and immediately afterwards, the school would withdraw it.

So he didn’t really have much time on the phone.

Has your son or the school received any form of commendation or recognition from anybody, whether government or NGO?

We’ve heard news of it online. Ministry of Sports, I can’t remember the full name, came around on Monday to speak with him and to speak with the principal. And then you are coming in.

We had an invite from the Ekiti State House of Assembly for him to come to their session. Some individuals called, some sent money to him. Those were the things we had.

So what was your next plan for him? 

Well, we’re following whatever God wants him to be and to do. We’re just waiting on God and also believing God that the management of JAMB will be considerate and do the needful, as far as allowing these children to actually proceed to the university is concerned, because it will be unfair for someone who has put in so much not to gain admission. Funny enough, this child, before he clocked 15, had already gotten his GCE results. He had distinctions in his GCE results. That was last year.

Then, from findings, somehow, that age is really like the peak for them when they take in so much and are able to apply so much of what they are putting in. So we just wish that we could just allow those children. The instruction was if they had 320 and above, they would be considered for admission. We did not have an idea of stages 2, 3, and 4. So, I’m surprised to hear, now that we got his results, that there remain stages 2, 3, and 4. I mean, I just feel that we shouldn’t let things be too difficult for these children, because nobody says it’s difficult for a 13-year-old child to get pregnant or get married anywhere. So it’s totally unfair for children who are using their own brains, who do not cheat, who did not cheat, who are not cheating, and especially children who will be 16 this year, to be precluded, it’s unfair.

What’s your counsel for students who are preparing for the exam next year, from your experience as a parent who has groomed a child to perform so well?

My advice for children who will be having such an experience next year is that they should leave no stone unturned. They should study hard. They should not disregard any aspect of their reading. Just like I said, he did over 200 percent of his reading, according to him.

In any case, that’s the standard in the house. For example, his elder brother had the highest UTME score in Ondo State in 2022.

He scored 345. I think he was number 16 in Nigeria. And this was the same pattern that he employed, and he was also about 15 at that point. So I feel that any child who wants to sit for similar examinations must prepare very well.

Why UTME results getting worse yearly – Principal

Mr Babatunde Jaiyeoba is the Registrar /Principal of ICONS Comprehensive College where  Olumide Ayodeji Afolabi attends . He spoke with The Hope on Olumide’s feat.

Excerpts:

One of your students scored 370 at the UTME recently conducted. What’s your reaction to that?

Well, we are excited about the news. But to be honest, it’s actually not a surprise to the school community, because we know he’s truly capable of achieving such a feat. So it wasn’t so much of a big deal for us. But then, it’s something to be excited about.

You said you are not surprised. What can you say is the secret behind it?

We prepared everyone of our students very well for the exam. We put several measures in place to ensure they performed well in the exam. Moreso, this is someone who has always been a leading light. He is currently the President/Chancellor. We use that instead of the regular Head Boy and Senior Boy. He is the president of the school. So, like I said, he has always been a high flyer.

Record showed that your students have recorded impressive scores in external examinations. What’s the secret behind that?

Yes, the secret is actually the school having committed and dedicated teachers. And of course, because we are a school with complete academic integrity. Here, there is zero tolerance for examination malpractices. And from the get-go, we make our students understand that they have to work extra hard for whatever it is they have to achieve. Now, this is not a new thing. This is not the first time we are getting this kind of limelight. The last three years, someone who happens to be the elder brother of this same student had the highest score in Ondo State. That was Icon Oluwole Afolabi. Then he had 345 in UTME. So that was a big deal then, but because that wasn’t the highest score, and it’s not as big as this, and because we’ve had previous higher scores than that, it wasn’t this much of a big deal. But then, this is a school that focuses on academics. We have committed teachers, we have dedicated teachers that are upholding these values. So it makes it easier for us as a school to achieve excellence.

Generally the performance of candidates at the examination was poor. What do you think would be responsible for that?

Well, personally, I feel like so many things. Now, we just heard the news where JAMB Registrar admitted to human error. It wasn’t a glitch like people were claiming it to be. It was actually human error. I think I read that in one of the zones, the software they were supposed to use was probably not updated; and this zone covers five states. That affected a whole lot of people, about 300,000 candidates who have to re-sit now. That actually affected results.

This is a period where we have so many students doing all sorts of things on social media.

Primary focus is now on social media, rather than paying more attention to academics. That’s why here we make sure we look out for our students. They have mentors, they have teachers checking up on them, even when they are not in school. We try as much as possible to keep in touch with them, so that we can follow up on what they are doing, so that they don’t get all this form of distractions.

Statistics show that there has been a downward trend in the performance of students at the UTME for the past few years. With the kind of outstanding records that your students have, how do you think such a downward trend can be reversed? Or corrected?

Well, yes. It’s a fact that there has been this downward trend like you mentioned. It just feels like it keeps getting worse. Last year we heard the news that last year’s UTME result was the poorest in the previous nine years. Now, this year’s result actually trumps that. So it keeps getting worse. The sad part is that some schools are not really doing what they are supposed to do, which is to pay extra attention to their students. As for schools that do this, it helps students focus more on external examinations like NECO, WASSCE, UTME, and that will increase the performance of students.

Then, I read about something, that because of the new improved software this year, JAMB was able to record very high scores. Yes, we know this is actually the poorest, but then there were so many high scores recorded this year. So, hopefully, there will continue to be improvements.