Yesterday, The TeacherFIRE™ Revolution was installed in Edo and Delta States. I was fuifilled that the fire is spreading. We owe it all to God, who causes us to triumph in all things. He opens and no man dares shut and when He shuts no man dares opens.

Today, I bring you the 7^th fact you must consider before you register your child in a school: How do they recruit their teachers, care givers and others, who relate with your children. Please note that character is superior to expertise. It is true that when you say someone is an expert, he must have 3 attributes. The first is skill; the second is experience and the third is character. Zig Ziglar submits, ‘Character is the 5th and final part of the success formula. Without it, the best attitudes, the strongest skills, the most concrete philosophy and the most worthwhile objectives mean nothing. Not a single one of the prior 4 parts of the success formula will matter.’ It is not enough for a teacher, care giver or other people, who relate with the child to have skill and experience, the school must be interested in their character quotient. It must therefore put in place a credible process of character verification. A custodian of the child in school cannot give what he/she does not have. The goal of the school must be to reach the head and the heart of the child. The head is the seat of knowledge and the heart is the seat of compassion. To attempt to reach the head of the child without reaching the heart is to raise intelligent devils. Please permit me to submit that it takes expertise to reach the head of a child and it takes nothing but character to reach the heart of the child.

Having worked within the school system in the last 15 years, I have seen many experts in the school system without a pinch of character. I have seen teachers and care givers, who have been caught eating the food meant for their children. I have seen teachers, who exploit pupils. I have seen sexuality education teacher, caught molesting one of the children, he was supposed to be teaching. I have seen a situation where a 24 year old teacher was sacked in a school for sexually molesting a 6 year old girl and reported to the police. While, he was on bail, we discovered that the suspected teacher had been hired by another school.

The truth of the matter is that it takes time and patience to come across hands with character. It is our responsibility as prospective parents to ask the school, how their hiring policy, which takes into cognisance character verification. I sign out here today. Have an INSPIRED day.