By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

Leading Nigerian actress, singer and philanthropist Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has called for the popularisation of an educational system that allows students to pursue their dreams or hobbies freely in addition to traditional academic studies.
Omotola was recently named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by TIME magazine alongside the likes of Michelle Obama, Beyonce and Kate Middleton.
Since her Nollywood – as Nigeria’s film industry is popularly known as - debut in 1995, Omotola has appeared in 300 films, selling millions of video copies and earning the title “The Queen of Nollywood”.
The actress was recently in Doha to attend Qatar Foundation’s annual World Innovation Summit for Education (Wise) as one of the speakers.
“There should be a school where people can learn things related to their hobby or interests with an adjustable timetable in order to give them the time to work and pursue that hobby,” she suggested in an interview with Gulf Times, pointing out that the entertainment industry in Nigeria has been able to prove that one doesn’t have to be a doctor or lawyer to be successful.
While acknowledging the success of some notable persons in the world such as Bill Gates despite “dropping out” of university, she said: “Primary and secondary schools are the most important levels of education for everyone who wants to be successful. Once you are done with that, you should be able to express yourself, speak good English and do some calculations.”
According to the actress, going to university should be for specialisation purposes and not just for the sake of going there, citing as example plans to send her first son to aviation school in the hope of him becoming a pilot after his father - Capt Matthew Ekeinde - whom she married in 1996.
“Education is a means to an end and not the end in itself,” she noted. “Students should not be made to view being sent to school as something that they are forced to do, either by their parents or others. Rather, they should be made to understand why they are studying because some children could feel that they are wasting their time studying, knowing they might never specialise in that field of learning.”
She added: “We are tired of seeing education as a boring and strenuous process people need to get through in order to get a job. I think education should now be ‘themed schooling’, where people are allowed to explore their passion.”
Recalling her college days and how she needed to make a choice between schooling, her acting career and family, Omotola said: “When I took admission in Yaba College to study estate management, I had already started acting and it got to a point where I was having babies and acting at the same time… these are three different directions altogether. So, the pressure got to me to a point where I had to start thinking of making a choice of which of the three to drop. Then, my studies were the easiest choice to drop among the three.”
“So, my point is how to get to a level where education is not the choice to drop. How do we move it forward and make sure it is convenient studying while doing (the) other things one has to do? Education shouldn’t be seeing as a liability or a necessity for life success. It should be an enjoyable hobby,” she added.
Omotola said her presentation at Wise focused on how to explore innovation and create opportunities so that educationists could start looking beyond the box and think of new ways to encourage people to come into education.
The actress launched a youth movement called the Omotola Ekeinde Youth Empowerment Programme (OYEP), which was later registered as a non-government organisation. She also hinted at plans to collaborate with Qatari institutions in the future to further OYEP’s initiatives abroad.
Omotola became a United Nations World Food Programme ambassador in 2005, going to missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
She lent her voice in 2010 to the “Rewrite the Future Campaign” of Save The Children UK and also became an Amnesty International campaigner in 2011.