Tai Solarin

Tai Solarin
Tai Solarin, director of the Mayflower school (right), with a guest from Israel in Ikene, Nigeria, 1962.
Born	Augustus Taiwo Solarin (1922-08-20)20 August 1922 Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
Died	27 June 1994(1994-06-27) (aged 71)
Nationality	Nigerian
Occupation	Educator, social activist, author (journalist) first african pilot
Spouse(s)	Sheila Mary Tuer (m. 1951)
Children	Corin Solarin Tunde Solarin

Augustus Taiwo "Tai" Solarin (20 August 1922 – 27 June 1994) was a Nigerian educator and author. He established the famous Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State in 1956. In 1952, Solarin became the principal of Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo, a post he held till 1956 when he became the proprietor and principal of Mayflower School.

Solarin's exact birth date is unknown, but it is assumed that he was born in 1922 in Ikenne, Ogun State, in Western Nigeria. He attended Wesley College in Ibadan. Solarin was inspired by the writings of Nnamdi Azikiwe who encouraged young people to travel abroad for study. His initial attempt to gain a passport fell through but he later enlisted in the British Air Force and served with the Royal Air Force as a navigator in the Second World War. He remained in Britain, studying at University of Manchester, and then at the University of London. Tai Sholarin married English-born Sheila Mary Tuer in 1951.

Solarin returned to Nigeria and became a tutor at Molusi College, which was supported by the community and Christians in Ijebu-Igbo. In 1952, he was appointed the school's principal succeeding Stephen Awokoya who had just been appointed the regional Minister for Education. Solarin, an humanist had a mission to 're-educate' the community and decided to make some changes. He removed morning prayers and religious studies as a subject in the school. However, some of the changes found opposition within the local community where his brother was a reverend. He decided to quit and found his own school with the approval of Awokoya the former Principal. He established Mayflower school on January 27, 1956.

The Mayflower campus, which he established, is made up of hundreds of hectares of land, based in Tai Solarin's birth Place, Ikenne, Ogun State. Approximately 8,000 students are in attendance .

The campus includes classrooms, administration buildings, small houses for many of the teachers, dormitory accommodations for about 2,000 boarders, and a farm. The school is noted for very high academic achievement.