Mr Bello Oluwapelumi, a 200l student of Science and Technology Education, is currently attempting to break the Guiness world record for the longest teaching marathon.
The current record holder is Arvind Mishra from India, who lectured for 139 hours and 42 minutes at the Graphic Era University in 2014. He taught scientific computation.
Mr. Pelumi, who currently serves as the Welfare Officer of the UI’SU Directorate of Academic Coordination, spoke exclusively to UCJ’UI about his attempt at the record after receiving approval for his Guinness World Records application.
Speaking to him on his goal and motivation behind attempting to break this particular record, he revealed that he is driven by his love for teaching and the sciences. “My goal is to achieve it as one of my achievements as regards my passion for teaching. I picked education and physics as a course for the love of teaching, so anything related to teaching has been my priority and love”, he said.
He also revealed that prior to now that he has been tutoring for 10, 12 hours at a stretch. Speaking on his preparation for the attempt so far, he said, “For my preparation, all l can say is my doings as regard teaching has served as a pedestal for preparation, throughout last session, l have been consistently teaching for hours, like 6, 8 , 10 and even 12 hours without break, even students used to plead for break and l was doing that consistently for weeks during our exam period last session”.
Furthermore, he said, “Same with this session, l have stood for 8, 10 hours and even more, while teaching, l just notice that once l hold that marker, nothing is stopping me anymore. I define my preparation as the actions I have taken, even though I did not intend them as preparation for anything. But on another term, as regards preparation, maybe funding and materials, l have been preparing for that for weeks or even months now”.
When asked what will happen in the event of success or failure, he restated his confidence in being able to make light of it. “The success will mean a lot to me and will serve as one of the testimonies for my passion for teaching and if otherwise, we move, after all, in all failures, there exist a victory. But l don’t think l can fail in this one especially”, he said.
“Organizers have slated the event to hold from Sunday, July 5, to Sunday, July 12, a week before UI resumes its second semester. Mr. Pelumi says he wants to make his attempt exactly 7 days so he would be targeting 168hours. Currently, there is no fixed venue for the event but works are still in progress to secure the NFLT of the Faculty of Science.
Lastly, Mr. Pelumi is hoping for support and wider awareness from the wider student’s community as all of it will go in for the success of the event.
