Can you tell us how it all began?

By the grace of God, it began more than 30 years ago when I had my children. I never had house helps so I had to take them to Daycare Centre. So whenever it was time for them to go, I had difficulties finding Daycare Centres that met my needs. I was always having one issue or the other. So I asked myself if it was impossible for anyone to set up a place where a parent could put his or her child and have peace of mind. Because even with my children in the Daycare, I used to come during office hours to check on them to ensure that they were well taken care of and that was when I started thinking about setting up a school.

What Challenges have you experienced in the past 20 years?

The first challenge that I had was that I was not a trained teacher and I knew that was a deficiency. As such, I had to get myself trained. Luckily I was abroad, so I had the opportunity to study at a school that trains people to set up and run schools inclusive of Daycare Centres. I had to learn about the different methodologies and after that I obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Child Care Management. I also had to undergo training in the Montessori Method of Teaching from which I obtained another Diploma. With that said the main challenge for most schools Triplecross Schools inclusive is finance. For you to run a very good school, you have to have access to a lot of money. There’s nobody who doesn’t want to have a very good school but most people are limited by the funds they have access to. That’s the main challenge.

Another challenge that faces schools are qualified personnel. We have to emback on teaching capacity training for teachers to equip them for the job and to ensure that they do what they are supposed to do.

Despite of all these challenges, what has kept you going?

The love for the job. The passion. I started out actually with Daycare & Nursery. That was what I planned and thought I wanted to do. Taking care of babies and of course once they start walking, helping them and getting them ready for primary school. But I discovered that I loved the job. I enjoyed the job and I used to stay in school till 6-7pm. I have stayed overnight in school before decorating for a new session. For you to be able to keep going in this job, you need a lot of passion. You have to love what you are doing. Another thing that makes me happy is when I am given a child who has a challenge and I’m able to sit down and map out a way out for the child and with my staff we are able to sit down with the help of God not only to turn that child to a good child but to an excellent child and that we have done by the help of God many times. We have so many children who came in challenged; not physically challenged but academically but who have turned out to be excellent children at the end of the day. So when we see such children, the joy that we have over them is not quantifiable and it makes us want to do more.

Triplecross School is well known for its high academic standard. How has the school been able to maintain this high academic standard over the years?

The first thing I will say is the help of the Holy Spirit. God has been with us. Like I said, when we started we were just doing our own thing. Because I studied about how to set up and run a school in the United States, I had an idea of what I wanted. When I was coming back to Nigeria, I believed that I would make a difference that I would run a school better than other schools and I was determined to be better. So I gave everything; I gave my all into it and God helped me. When we started, we started like other schools but each year we endeavoured to improve the standard of the children to help them. By the time I went for the Montessori Course, I discovered that the course was a fantastic course and it made the school even better because I had to go for the course myself and I had A in the course because I was really serious and I really wanted to know it; maybe because I felt I was disadvantaged not having studied Education in the University but anytime I need to go for any course, I am really serious about it. I want to know everything about Education as much as possible. So, when we did the Montessori course, we discovered that it was a way to make the children read very fast and God sent me some very good staff. I had a teacher who came from a very big school in Ikoyi (Ms. Boi- Nai) who was working with me and with that we were able to set up. And then God has been helping us because even now the children are still doing excellently well even in the secondary school. Our children who passed from the primary school to the secondary school are doing excellently well. We just had one of them in our secondary section who had 7 distinctions and 2 credits, another had 4 distinctions and 5 credits, yet another had 5 distinctions and 5 credits which is as a result of the foundation they had in our primary school. But by and large it is the Glory of God. Like I tell my staff you can do all that and still the children may not do well. So even if you put in your best effort, for the children to still come out excellent, it is the grace of God.

One of your past pupils, Ebedi Kelvin won N1m in one of the editions of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’- For Secondary Schools in 2012 for being able to answer questions beyond his age correctly. How has this impacted on the goodwill of the school?

We were very happy when we heard about it because the edition of the ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ was for students in the secondary school and this boy was in Grade 4. When we interviewed him he said whenever he watched it he realized that he knew the answers to almost all the questions so he decided to join. And he was able to get picked and he was able to win. He actually won half a million naira and the presenter asked him what he wanted to use the N500,000 to do and he said he saw one game boy in Shoprite. So the presenter was astonished when he said game boy and asked for his age and he said 9 years old. He was shocked. He asked him what class he was and he said Grade 4 and he asked ‘what are you doing here?’ He was surprised and he said “if it is true that you are 9 years old and you are still in primary school and you came to answer questions with secondary school students and you still beat them, I will double the prize money”.

So when he confirmed that he was actually in Grade 4 and he was really 9 years old the money was doubled. That really made us very happy because it shows that God is behind us. And we have quite a number of children like that. We had two children for example who attempted Loyola Jesuit exams in Grade 5 because the parents just wanted them to try the exams so that by the time they would be in Grade 6 they would be used to the questions and they passed the exams in Grade 5. Loyola Jesuit is a school for exceptionally gifted children and two of our children attempted their exams in Grade 5 and passed the exams. So we give all Glory to God.

What method of teaching is employed in Triplecross School and what are the benefits?

Well, we have a combination of methods that we use because every method of teaching has advantages and disadvantages. But we discovered that the Montessori method is the best in the first few years of life; the first 5-6 years. So as much as possible we apply the method in our lower classes but then we introduced the conventional method in the advanced classes and we discovered over the years that a combination of the two is actually better than either of the two. It is a common trend in Nigeria that parents don’t allow their children to get to Grade 6 before taking them to secondary school.

What is your take on this and what are the disadvantages or otherwise of such actions on the children?

The school is against it because it’s not the best thing for pupils. The developers of the curriculum up to Grade 6 were not foolish and they were not stupid to do it. And I don’t know why parents are doing that. Some are not even waiting till Grade 5; they withdraw pupils from Grade 4. We’ve even had a child who went from Grade 3 and a half and what do I mean by that; she did Grade 3 then she came in for first term and in January of Grade 4 which is second term she went to secondary school. And we did not know until one day they brought the handbills of that school and I saw her as one of the students in the advert. I was shocked. It’s not good at all and we try as much as possible to tell parents. A lot of parents do it out of ignorance. They don’t know the implication. My parents made the same mistake with me because my parents are both professors and when I was in primary 5. I was asked to attempt common entrance exams so that in primary 6 I wouldn’t make mistakes. I attempted about 4 schools and I passed all the entrance exams and so my parents felt I could go to secondary school.

But it affected me. Now,academically I was doing well but I was not matured and I did not know what to do and my friends used to cheat me. I never even knew there was anything called ‘school cert’ until I was in Form 4 in those days. So it’s not the best for the children. The fact that a child can sit down and pass an exam does not necessarily mean that child is mature and ripe enough for that class. And I would like parents to know that it’s not the speed that matters, it is how well. What’s the point of having a child who finishes from university at the age of twenty or twenty one with a third class or a second class lower whereas if the child had finished at twenty two or twenty three he/she would have made a two-one or a First Class. And he/she would have had a better chance at jobs with that kind of result. So I would like parents to know that they should not be in a hurry. They should allow these children to move at each personal pace and they will give them less stress when they get to secondary schools. They won’t need to repeat or be re-writing Jamb or WAEC two or three times.

Triplecross School is 20 years old and has quite a number of staff who have spent 10-15 years in the school. How have you been able to keep staff within your organisation for such long periods of time?

Well, I believe in respecting my staff. Even though the Lord put me at the helm of affairs in the school, I cannot do the work myself. I cannot teach all the classes at the same time. I cannot be in all the classes. I cannot do everything myself. I have to rely on people and I believe that such people should be well treated. So a lot of my staff don’t see me as their boss. We’re more like colleagues. I relate very easily with them. I have an open door policy with them and they’re not afraid of me. When I’m around, they do the work and when I’m not there they do the work. And as such I have peace of mind. They don’t do eye service. I give them a little bit of space to express themselves. Secondly, I try as much as possible to pay their salaries on time. Thirdly is the God factor.

The 2014 SSCE examination result of Triplecross High was very good. The Head-boy had 7 distinctions and 2 credits. How has the high school been able to attain a high standard being barely 7 years old?

Like I said, everything starts with God. We had had experience in the primary school of how to help turn around weak children. This last set was our 3rd set at WAEC. Even the first set we presented for Waec where children who did not pass our entrance exam. We took in children who scored as low as 35%. But because of the experience in the primary school, we were able to work with them and at the end of the six years none of those children failed any subject. All the children had distinctions and credits in every subject including English and mathematics. None of them had less than 5 credits and none of them failed either English or math. Of course the following year the result was even better and this year by God’s grace the result is was far better than the earlier ones.

So it’s God that has been with us and we are determined to prove ourselves among the good secondary schools in the country. It is not just about setting up a school and wanting to be known. I went to St Anne’s school, Ibadan (a prestigious school at the time) and that is the kind of school that I want for all the children who come to Triplecross Schools. That anywhere they go and they say they went to Triplecross School people will give them respect because of that name and the Lord will continue to help us in Jesus name.

There is a third school within the Triplecross Family called First Ages Nursery & Primary School. Why does it bear a different name?

Well we merged with that school, we discovered that they had their own clientele and set procedures. We did not want this to change. So we decided to let the school run the way it is. The school and Triplecross School are almost the same now. It’s a very good school too because we run the same curriculum and the management is also the same. Also,the Head of the School there is doing a very good job and the school is running well, so we don’t see the need to change the name.

Does it have the same standard as Triplecross Nursery & Primary School?

Yes, they have about the same standard.

What should prospective parents expect from Triplecross Schools in the near future?

Well,in the near future we will keep on improving the school because you can never say that you have arrived. There’s always room for improvement. We’re always striving to do better and better. Concerning our results in the secondary school this year for example, everybody has been shouting about it but I still believe that there is nothing wrong in all my children making A1’s, all of them. That’s what we’re going for. A1 in every subject. So until I have that, I can’t say that I have arrived. So we have to continue to improving, we have to continue to work on the children. Yes it’s good that we had 7 distinctions and 2 credits but how nice it would have been for the boy to have had 9 distinctions, I mean all the children to have had 9 distinctions each; every child in the school. That would have been fantastic. And that’s what we’re gunning for. And that is why we said we have not yet reached where we are going. And we’re still trying to put in efforts, everything we know, we’re still going for training. Until we get there, the Lord will continue to help us.

Congratulations once again on the Anniversary and may the good Lord continue to move the school forward in Jesus name (Amen)

Thank you very much.