28/01/2026
I recently watched Sir Ken Robinson talked about a Death Valley (the hottest & dryest place) in America. He explained that nothing grows there because it doesn’t rain. But in the winter of 2004, it experienced a 7-inch of rain over a short period and in the spring of 2005, the whole floor of Death Valley was covered in flowers. He concluded that this phenomenon signified that there are possibilities beneath the surface waiting for the right moment to sprout.
He related this scenario to our school system, especially our learners who are not dead-brained but dormant and just waiting for the right climate of opportunity to manifest. However, one major factor in these range of opportunities are the teachers.
Nations are not built in parliaments alone. They are built quietly -lesson by lesson, question by question- in classrooms but we often underestimate.
There are teachers who “finished the syllabus” right on time but left students at the exact spot they met them. And I have met teachers who didn’t finish everything on paper yet raised learners who could reason, question authority and imagine solutions for their communities.
The difference is simple: one followed the schedule while the other shaped a citizen.
When teaching is reduced to content coverage, we produce graduates who can pass exams but struggle with empathy, leadership and civic courage.
I sincerely understand, teaching is increasingly becoming a calling many are rejecting, especially in this part of the world but for some of us that have signed the righteous contract and picked the name “Teacher(s)”, we need far more than transfer knowledge.
We have to:
🩵 model values
💙 shape attitudes
💚 teach how to disagree respectfully
💛 show what responsibility looks like
That is nation-building work. And these are ways to build that nation we strongly are in need of.
Check the image!!!
