Life has been challenging for 31-year old Islamic cleric, Yekini Akeem, an SS-2 Student of Itabo Community High School, Itabo, Lanlate, Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. This is because he is attending secondary school at that age and he has two wives and seven children.
In a chat with News Desk Naija, Alfa, as he is popularly referred to by his colleagues, said one of the greatest challenges facing him has been the difficulty of interacting with his classmates who are far younger than him. Some of them, he claimed, heap lots of insults on him daily because of his age and they know that back home he has two wives and seven children.
Alfa said: “I disregard every insult because I know what I want. Often, I serve punishment together with my classmates even when it is receiving strokes of the cane.” Yekini blamed the delay in his secondary education on an illness that affected his father in 1995 when he was preparing for his Junior Secondary School Certificate exam, JSCE. This later truncated his education.
“After staying for six years at home, Alfa said he later enrolled in a Qu’ranic school. He graduated in Arabic studies in 2004 and became a qualified Islamic teacher (Alfa). After many years of staying away from school, Alfa said he attended a public lecture by Mallam Surakat Abdul Rofiu which ignited his desire to return to school.
After the lecture, Yekini approached a community leader, Chief Saraki who assisted him to enrol as a JS1 student in 2006. He was later promoted to JS2 and he wrote his junior WAEC. Commenting on Yekini’s attitude and performance in school, his Vice Principal, Mr. Gbenga Adeshina Babatunde said he has been of good conduct, therefore, he had always been interested in his education.
After his secondary education, Alfa is said to be interested in studying Arabic at tertiary level. But his ambition may be thwarted by two factors. One, his poor financial background. His two wives are petty traders. One sells banana while the second wife sells food. Yet he has seven children to cater for. One of them is already a JS 2 student. Alfa relies on his meagre earning as an Islamic cleric and farming to cater for his family.
Two, obviously because of his age and distractions at home, Yekini is not a particularly brilliant student. His principal at Itabo Community High School, Mr. Ayo Opaderin, described Alfa as a humble student but entertains fears about his ability to go further in education. He said his poor English might hinder his understanding of other subjects. But he admitted his education will assist him a lot in his chosen field as an Islamic cleric.
Another daunting task for Yekini who was made Senior Prefect because of his age is that of relating with relatively younger classmates. For example, the Senior Prefect Girls, Suliat Aderoju, 19, is one of the oldest of his classmates. Others in SS 2 with him include Miss Olayinola Jumoke, 18, and 16-year old Toheed Aderinto.
Suliat said of Alfa: “whenever we are playing in the class, he cautions us. He is a nice person who always encourages us to take our studies seriously. He is very disciplined. He may not be good in English Language, but he is good in Yoruba and Accounting.”
Alfa disclosed that he went back to school so that he could be a better Islamic preacher because he needed to master English to be able to evanglise Islamic doctorines, adding “Education is very important and I feel I should be educated to be a teacher. I am not ashamed.”
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