Actress and comedian Helen Paul was awarded with a doctorate degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Lagos last week.
In a chat with Punch‘s Saturday Beats, Paul spoke about the importance of education and why her family didn’t believe she could go past receiving secondary school education.
Speaking on her doctorate degree, Helen said:
“Bagging a PhD would not affect my career at all; in fact, it would make me better at it. I have learnt to entertain and educate people at the same time.
Already I have an academy, the Helen Paul Theatre Academy, so I did not go to get a PhD to become a lecturer. I just want to impact life and I do not necessarily need to do it by becoming a lecturer. I just want people to know that education is key and people should always imbibe the culture of constant learning. I feel I am already a teacher by being a good role model in the society.
She continued:
“In my family, no one believed that I would complete secondary school education let alone attend university. My mother always told me that if I finished from secondary school with good grades, she would kill a cow because I was very restless and playful.
To motivate me the more, she said that I should complete my university education, and that is when she would believe that I had really achieved a feat in life.”
Helen noted that she tried to gain admission into the university twice, but she didn’t get in. She said:
“I tried gaining admission the first time but it was to no avail. I tried the second time and got admission at the University of Ilorin. By the time I got to the school, they told me that admission had closed. I began to cry as I was trekking everywhere in the school, showing people my result and the newspaper in which my name was published as part of those that passed the examination.
The third time I tried, I chose the University of Lagos and I gave it all my best. Despite having a PhD, I would rather people continue calling me Helen Paul and not Dr Helen Paul because nothing has changed about me.”