Claude Oyabi: True satisfaction comes from teaching students in the classroom, face-to-face

Oyabi is a 50-year-old teacher at Damas public school in Libreville. He started teaching in 1997, which means he has 25 years of experience in the field. He could have had a successful career in designing and implementing educational strategies at the Ministry of Education, but Oyabi’s priority was always to be in the classroom, teaching children face-to-face.

"My passion for being in the classroom stopped me from climbing the career ladder. I wanted to see my students every day," he adds modestly.

Oyabi has had many ups and downs throughout his career, and he has many stories to tell. But his proudest moment so far was when he met a young boy living in a rural area who was not able to keep up with his peers because of his difficult upbringing.

"I took him under my wing from third grade onwards to help him get to the CE2 level. He was then able to skip CM1 and go straight to CM2. This allowed him to graduate secondary school quickly and go to university. He came back to me later to tell me that he had become a psychologist. I am really proud to have contributed to his educational journey," he reflects.

Oyabi never stops looking for ways to improve the education system. His greatest priority is to teach even his youngest students about the environment and sustainable development, and he would like these subjects to be fully integrated into the national educational curriculum. In addition to this, he has also just finished putting together educational resources: a book for students; a book for teachers; and an activity book about sustainable development.

"The environment is a cause that directly impacts all of us and so its absolutely necessary to teach it to even the youngest of students," Oyabi explains. He also wants to improve the support given to children with learning difficulties. "I have ideas about how to help these children but it’s not easy to implement them within the public national education framework.  However, if I share my ideas with the private sector, I could really make a difference," he tells us.

As part of his job, Oyabi also oversees school projects such as a soon-to-be-launched science rally. In the past, he also ran an extremely successful school garden project which benefitted the entire school. This has been a highlight of his career.

Oyabi also has an active family life, with four children ranging from the ages of thirty-one to only four months old. He finds enough time to look after them all because “The current system uses the competency-based approach, which gives teachers the opportunity to correct and discuss students’ homework with them. Education is no longer only about getting certain grades, " Oyabi concludes.