What 15 Years of Teaching in China Taught Me About Nigerian Students

I did not expect that leaving Nigeria would teach me so much about it. But fifteen years of teaching students whose language, culture, and circumstances were entirely different from my own gave me a mirror I could not have found at home.

The First Lesson: Curiosity Is Not Cultural — It Is Cultivated

When I arrived in China, I expected to find students who were disciplined but passive — the stereotype of the East Asian classroom. What I found was more nuanced. Chinese students were indeed disciplined. But the best ones were also relentlessly curious — not about random things, but about the specific subjects they were studying. They asked questions, but targeted ones. They practised, but with deliberate focus.

I noticed that this curiosity was not natural — it was cultivated. Teachers who inspired it were revered. Subjects taught with context and connection produced students who genuinely wanted to know more. This taught me something I brought back to my thinking about Nigeria: Nigerian students are not less curious than any other students in the world. They are often less inspired. And that is a problem we can actually solve.

The Second Lesson: Resilience Is a Competitive Advantage

I have taught students from more than a dozen different countries over my career. Nigerian students — and I say this not from bias but from observation — are among the most resilient I have encountered. They adapt to new environments at remarkable speed. They find ways to perform despite limited resources. They are not easily defeated.

In China, I watched Nigerian students in international settings outperform peers from far more privileged backgrounds, not because they had better preparation but because they had learned to overcome. That resilience is a genuine competitive advantage — and it is largely invisible to the Nigerian system, which spends too much time focusing on what students lack rather than what they already carry.

The Third Lesson: The Teacher Shapes the Room

In China, I saw first-hand what a motivated, well-supported, and professionally respected teacher can do. Classes of 40 or 50 students can still produce exceptional outcomes when the person at the front of the room is fully invested. I also saw what happens when they are not.

This is a lesson directly applicable to Nigeria. The teacher is the most powerful variable in any classroom. More powerful than the textbook, the building, or the examination system. A great teacher in a poor school will consistently produce better outcomes than a mediocre teacher in a well-resourced one.

Nigeria’s education system will not fundamentally change until it genuinely values, invests in, and retains great teachers. This is not complicated. It is a choice.

What I Came Home Believing

After fifteen years, I came home — intellectually, at least — with a conviction that has not wavered: Nigerian students are not the problem. They never were. They are the solution, waiting for the right conditions. The BAG Foundation exists to create some of those conditions, one student at a time, until the system catches up.

Dr Ayobami Gideon Babalola

Founder, BAG Foundation · Educator · DBA · Author (A. G. Babs)

15+ years teaching experience across Nigeria and China. Founder of the BAG Foundation. Writing weekly on education, scholarships, study skills, and the future of learning in Africa.