LCCN Bible College Dashen: Grooming place for Church Leaders
LCCN Bible College Dashen: Grooming
place for Church Leaders
Overview
The
mention Dashen, in the LCCN circle would simply draw to mind: Pastors Training.
Dashen Bible College has been the oldest Bible training institution in LCCN and
of course the entire North Eastern Nigeria that award a Higher Certificate in
Theological Training. Since its establishment over 40 years ago the school has
remained one outstanding institution that is focused on Pastors training. The
School has had phases of metamorphosis before coming to the present status.
It
was started as an Elementary Bible Training School where young students were
groomed and later sent to the Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN) to
get a Diploma in theology. The school was later upgraded from Ordinary Level
Certificate School to a Diploma awarding Institution but after the first set to
received Diploma Graduated in 1989 the School was moved to Mbamba-Yola in 1990.
An
Agro-Training Institute from Mbamba was brought to Dashen as a replacement, but
the school fizzled out just after two years. The Church in its wisdom decided
to restore the Pastors Training programme in Dashen by making the school an
Advance Bible Training College where those who attended Bible Schools in other
places may be trained for one year to qualify them for ordination. Bible School
graduates started receiving training in 1993 to 1996. Within this period, sets
of prospective pastors graduated and were ordained accordingly. Between 1997 and
2000, the prospect of the School was uncertain. There were no actual programmes
of running the school. After considerations and deliberation by the Executive
Council (EC) and General Church Council (GCC) within the period, a Bible
college was reintroduced in the year 2000/2001. The first sets of students
enrolled were school dropouts and those who could not make their O levels in
Secondary Schools.
The Success story
After
the first three years of the existence of the School, the school through the
hard work of the Principal Rev. Joseph
G. Samari and the Vice principal Rev Rachel Dibal got to register a West
African Examination Council (WAEC) Exams Center at the School. This accorded
the students opportunity of acquiring double certificates; One from WAEC and
the other an Internal Certificate in Religious Studies. The outcome was good; the
students and their guardians were impressed by the outcome.
Subsequently,
the school continued to receive students’ enrollment in numbers and later
National Examination Council (NECO) registered a center in the school. The
school was pushed to work hard through the support of the Church and commitment
of the few staff members. Owing to the increasing excellence in WAEC and NECO
results, the school received a lot of applicants every academic year.
According
to the VP Academics the school now has students from all over Adamawa State and
beyond. “Initially we had only students from Ganye and Jada Local Government
Areas but today there students from other states of Nigeria schooling here.”
When
the Board of the School and Management realized that part of the challenges students
faced in the Senior Secondary Classes was as a result of poor foundation at the
Junior School level, the school decided to open a Junior Class level. Students
were enrolled right after receiving their primary school education. The
Principal Rev Joseph Samari said this; they believed was going to improve the
standard of performance of the students in no small major.
Today
LCCN Bible College has become a spectacle in the educational development in and
around Adamawa state. Mr. Isaiah S. Jakanda the Vice Principal Admin said, “Our
success story in this school is due to the great understanding among staff
members and their commitment to delivering excellence. For years now the
performance of students in WAEC and NECO has been wonderful. We are one of the
best schools in WAEC and NECO in Adamawa State.” On his part, the Vice
Principal Academic Mr. Roland Nchanji attributed the successes recorded in the
school to the fact that the teachers and student never relented in working
hard. “The main secret is that we have always taken our work serious,
especially the teachers handling the final year students always work round the
clock. We go to the extent of excavating past question papers and we go on to
pre-empting likely areas of questions in WAEC and NECO.” Mr Nchanji said the
school has also evolved a policy of strict admission, because they discovered
that most schools where pupils are graduated from do not keep to standard. “One
other area of emphasis is on the admission policy where we give aptitude test
to prospective students. We admit them based on their qualification and
discipline.”
Developments
The
Principal said the school has embarked on developmental projects every year. He
said with the support of the PTA, a classroom was constructed and another was
constructed by the school. “We have two new classrooms and the Exams Hall has
been expanded, all these were done in the last 3 years. We have made several
renovations in the hostels, provided more beds for the students and now we are
embarking on a major project of fencing in the school. This is our effort to
ensure safety of our students. There are plans to do more.” The Bursar, on the
issue of developments in the school he said, the school is planning to
diversify its sources of generating income. “We planned to open a school farm
but we later discovered that we do not have enough funds. Our school is sited
in an Agric friendly area and we are planning to take advantage of that.”
Challenges
The
school has not run without challenges. The Principal Rev Samari said the
proprietor of the school (LCCN) has been consistent in providing support to the
school; but in the past two years nothing was set aside for the school.
“Schools are not profit making as we all know, the church runs schools to keep
the standard of education and to provide services to people. But there is no
doubt that running schools effectively could be expensive. We charged N22,000
as a boarding school; students are provided with three square meals, we also provide
good drinking water and electricity to ensure that our students are giving conducive
learning environment. Our staff members are mostly graduates, some with their
Master’s degree. All these are dependent on the lean income from school fees.”
The Vice Principal Academic also said that the Laboratories are poorly equipped
and there is need for more space for both school library and the laboratories.
He said, “There is acute shortage of staff accommodation; right now one of the
greatest constraints is insufficient laboratory. We are expected to put our
laboratory in separate halls; financial constrains has hindered these, that is
why as a school we will continue to call for support.” Mr Bitrus D. Jangwe, the
Physics teacher in the school said, the students managed the single hall
laboratory to do all practical. He said although all the needed equipment and
chemicals for practical in NECO and WAEC are available in the Lab, yet, there is
need to improve them.
Security
Mr
Hayford Abel the Bursar of the school said the activities of insurgency in the
North East have affected the school although there was never any direct attack
on the school or its vicinity. He said some parents have withdrawn their wards
in schools due to the fear of the unknown. He also said that the school has a
lot of students from Hong and Gombi Local Government Areas worst hit by the menace
of the insurgents. Accordingly to the Bursar, “we operate in First Bank and
since the only First Bank near us in Ganye was burnt by the Insurgents, we
often had to go to Yola before we could do any transaction. Similarly, the Vice
Principal Academic said, “on the issue of Boko Haram we will not raise such an
alarm but being in the North East there is no place left out. We can say we are
also affected, even for the apprehension alone. This has made us to improve on
our physical security in the school. We are also mindful of the type of people who
come around. We have instructed our students not to interact with unknown
persons.” The Principal said, “Our daily prayers has been very effective and we
are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that we do not expose our
students to any kind of danger”.
The
Chief-Security officer of the School Mr. Samson Zinas said, “We on our part
have been working round the clock to make sure that the students and staff
members are protected. We are on alert at all times; we have 24 hours duty
shifts with our men manning different locations of the school. Our concern is
that some of the staff members don’t seem to understand that when security
rules are set everyone must obey. For instance we insisted that there must only
be one entrance into the school but sometimes you will see a staff coming in at
an entrance that is not allowed. We are calling on the school authority to
check this.” He hailed the support of students in ensuring security of lives
and properties.
The
Head boy of the School Wilson Yinsa said that the students are comfortable in
the school; he said the school has provided them with power generating set that
provides them with electricity every evening for their studies. He called on
the church to assist the school in improving its standard. Mr Sobkonso Nemuel a
teacher in the school said “our staff welfare is good compared to other private
schools around; this school is the highest paid school in Ganye area. As
teachers we are doing our best and we believe that things will continue to
improve. Our only challenge is staff accommodation”.
School Call
LCCN
Bible College Dashen is a breeding place for the future leaders of the church
and the society at large, said the principal Rev Joseph Samari, “we have
graduated number of students here and today they are ordained pastors in the
various dioceses of the church and others have taken up lay responsibility in
the church. The church needs to continue to support this vital sector. Without
such grounds, the church may have to look elsewhere for foundational training.
There is nowhere in the world that schools are solely seen as a profit making
venture or a self-sufficient sector rather, schools are operated as training
grounds that is why the alumni, PTA
and proprietors often join hands to carter for school needs. It is unfortunate
that some BME members could not see the importance of this institution. It is
disheartening for some say they did not see the importance of the school, when
students are graduating from such a school every year.” He called on the church
to preserve her future by ensuring that her schools are well funded and cared
for. “I can recall how we started few years ago; we almost had no specific
focus at the beginning because the church could not give us a guideline, but
with the help of God the vision is now clear. Apart from our students that are
admitted into the seminary, some of them have outstanding performance in
various universities and colleges of higher learning in the country. Some of
our own students who graduated from the university have returned to the school
as teachers. With all these we are grateful to God and the leadership of the
church under Most Rev. (Dr) Nemuel A. Babba for according the opportunity to
raise leaders of tomorrow.”
LCCN
Bible College Dashen has 23 teaching staff members on her pay roll and 10
non-teaching staff; they are LCCN members gainfully employed at the college.
