READ THIS EXCERPT FROM THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER DATED 19TH AUGUST,2011
Results of the 2011 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination were released last week. Though the best in three years, less than 31 per cent of candidates had credits in five subjects including maths and English, prompting experts to project the way forward. Olunike Asaolu and Motunrayo Aboderin report.
A breakdown of this year’s May/June West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination showed that 51.7 per cent, that is 789,288 of the 1,540,250 candidates, that sat for the examination got five credits and above. Out of this, only 30.70 per cent, that is, 472,906 had credits in five subjects including English and mathematics.
This was an improvement on the results of previous years. For instance, 24.94 per cent of candidates obtained credits in English Language, mathematics and at least three other subjects in May/June, 2010. In 2009, only 356,981, representing 25.99 per cent obtained credits and above in English Language, mathematics and other subjects, while in 2008, only 13.76 per cent of the 1,369,142 candidates that sat for the examination in May/June had five credits passes and above in English, mathematics and other subjects. In 2007, only 25.54 per cent obtained credits and above in two subjects and three others.
The implication of this is that less than 31 per cent of candidates that sat for the senior secondary school examination qualified for admission to tertiary institutions in Nigeria. To gain admission to tertiary institutions in the country, a candidate must have five credits in at least five subjects including maths and English.
To sustain the improvement in this year’s results, and ensure better performance of candidates in subsequent years, experts have said that efforts should be geared towards ensuring that pupils overcome the fear and inability to pass core subjects, particularly English and Mathematics.
Stakeholders are of the opinion that everybody, including government, parents, teachers, schools and pupils should come together to solve the problem of mass failure in exams organised by the West African Examination Council and other examination bodies.
The Director of Green Academy, Lagos, Mr. Johnson Ajayi, said though there was an improvement in the recent WASSCE results compared to the last three years; Nigerians could not afford to celebrate because the success rate was still poor.
He said, “This statistical trend has only suggested that the walls of education in our country are cracking and if not taken care of, the whole building will collapse. Mathematics and English which are the basic and the foundation of any form of education have always been a problem for most secondary school pupils and those in higher institutions. This is simply so because the foundation has not been properly laid at the nursery and primary level. When a pupil is not properly groomed in these subjects at the elementary level, it’s most likely he will find it difficult to attain excellence and outstanding success at the secondary and the tertiary level.
“So, the question is how do we groom them at the elementary level? A research conducted on how we learn some years ago, has revealed that the least effective way to learn is via reading and the second least effective way is via lectures. Our current system of education relies heavily on reading and lectures. This is not to say that reading and lectures are not important, this only points out to the lack of long-term effectiveness of those teaching methods. The most effective way of learning is via simulations (doing it real) or games and this is called active learning. Active learning engages a person’s body, mind, emotion and spirit in learning. Pictures alone communicate better than lectures.”
He, therefore, suggested incorporation of new technologies into the system in order to achieve positive results. “The educational system of our country needs to incorporate new technologies such as creating a central database to monitor the growth, performance and effectiveness of schools nationwide. This will afford government the opportunity to appraise the schools and also create room for improvement. It will also improve the process of learning in the schools. If, for instance, we automate lesson notes and lectures using interactive boards and also incorporate research and development option in their curriculum using the internet and other technologies,” he added.
But an examiner for WAEC, Mr. Adelekan Ogunronbi, identified lack of consideration and unwillingness to learn as the number one reason for failing maths and English. He said most pupils had already tuned their mind to the fact that they could not pass maths and English, so they unconsciously failed to put in the required efforts to understand the subjects.
He said, “All other subjects are taught in English, so why is English now a problem. This shows that pupils are not willing to learn. The interest to pass English or maths is not there. I have heard pupils say maths is too hard.
“Also, we should focus on the type of teachers that teach maths and English. Teaching maths especially is not a joke, and not just any teacher can teach the subject. This is one area schools should focus on. They should employ teachers that understand the subjects they are employed to teach.’’
Asked if WAEC in any way contributed to pupils failing maths and English, so as to rip money off the pupils, Ogunronbi said, “I totally disagree. WAEC is not to blame. As a marker, we have a scheme we follow. If we are marking a script and the answers written don’t correlate with the scheme, we marked it wrong. Pupils should not put the blame on WAEC. They should take responsibility for their actions. If you fail to read, then be prepared to fail.”
An educationist, Mr. Ayo Ajayi, observed that with only 30.7 per cent having five credits in maths and English and other subjects, Nigeria is not likely to achieve its developmental goals.
“Over the years, English and maths have become a problem because of some reasons, which include low education standard, unmotivated teachers, poor and corrupt leadership, insufficient instructional materials and unfriendly environment with dilapidated buildings. We should also not shy away from the fact that nowadays, there is so much distraction from technology, internet and social networks.
“Also, unemployment has discouraged pupils from studying hard. When they see their seniors or elders unemployed after graduation, they don’t bother themselves studying anymore.”
A government consultant and motivational speaker, Dr. Emmanuel Atalor, identified five major reasons why pupils fail maths and English. First, he said the people in government were not thinkers. According to him, all that government officials care about is the future of their children and not that of the nation. He said Nigerian leaders were blind and deaf towards the concerns of the nation.
Second, he identified parents as a major cause. He said a significant percentage of pupils were from broken homes. “You can easily identify a child who comes from a broken home and one who comes from a peaceful home.
“Also, parents who assist their children in cheating should be scolded, not the children. As a parent, if you train your child to cheat during exams, you are a failure yourself, and someday, you will have to pay for the consequences,” he said.
In addition, Atalor identified teachers as another group of people that contributed largely to mass failure in public examinations. “Based on my findings, 99 per cent of teachers don’t belong there. They have no interest or passion for the profession; they become teachers out of boredom. When a graduate leaves the university, his zeal to work is high. But after years of sitting at home, he resorts to teaching. There is no motivation to teach.
“Furthermore, WAEC as a body should be thoroughly scrutinised. A large number of WAEC officials are corrupt, which directly makes the body corrupt. I have witnessed instances where WAEC officials allow pupils to open their textbooks while writing their exams. You even hear of private schools that bribe WAEC officials.
“WAEC has become big time money- making scheme, and Nigeria constitutes 80 per cent of WAEC candidates in Africa. So why won’t pupils continue to fail their exams, the more pupils that repeat their exams, the more money WAEC makes. Every year, WAEC makes N12-N15bn. This has become a big time business. Or should I speak on the issue about WAEC changing results. A pupil who was not very brilliant in school ends up with an A1s in his WASSCE results,” he alleged.
He said the way forward was to judge pupils based on the cumulative grade point average. He added that maths and English should no more be the criteria for admission. He said, “A pupil that wants to study fashion design in school does not need maths. It is wrong to prevent a pupil from going ahead to pursue his or her dreams just because the pupil failed maths or English. This is not to say maths and English are not important, but it should not become criteria for admission.”
A WAEC examiner and teacher in one of the public schools, who does not want his name in print, disclosed that while WAEC might not be interested in failing pupils, its mark scheme is too rigid, and this directly or indirectly affects pupils’ results.
He said, “As an examiner, we don’t mark outside the mark scheme, so if a pupil’s answers are not corresponding to what we have on the scheme, even if he is making a point, he may score nothing or less. I think this affects pupils’ results, WAEC, should therefore, be a bit flexible in order to reduce mass failure.
“Another thing is that its questions are being set by professors, and this should not be so. Questions should be set and handled by teachers, who teach these pupils, because they understand the pupils’ language, their level of understanding and will be able to give them what they should do. The level of the professors is just too high for the pupils, so setting of questions should be handled by teachers.”
However, a professor of Education Psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, Prof. Mopelola Omoegun, absolved WAEC of any form of blame. According to her, the organisation is just performing its responsibilities and not interested in failing any pupil or setting tough questions.
“I suggest that every school should encourage teachers who are examiners to teach examination classes or organise seminars, to educate pupils on what WAEC requires of them. As an examiner and a teacher, this is the method I adopted in teaching my pupils and I was always telling them that if they attended my class regularly they could not fail.”
She, however, noted that pupils’ poor performance in these core subjects particularly in English was due to negligence and ignorance. “Pupils tend to perform poorly because they are taking the subject for granted.
“Also, we can as well say that those who are teaching them are not paying attention to the technicalities involved. Teachers need more training on new methods of teaching. English should be split into different aspects such as lexis and structures, grammar, comprehension, etc, all these should have their different periods, and we cannot combine all in a period and have good results. Mathematics, for some years, has been regarded as a bone of contention. Some pupils have made up their minds that they cannot know it. For such pupils, teachers should think of methods that will help them to enjoy the subject, they should be encouraged to have self talk like ‘I can pass maths,’ they should make maths lesson more practical in approach, more relevant, objects can be used for illustration, and get pupils more involved in class,” she said.
In addition, Omoegun identified underage, immaturity, overpopulation and inability of the school to cover the syllabus before examination period, as contributory factors to mass failure.
She said, “One of the major problems is that most schools don’t cover the WAEC syllabus before the examination and this definitely affects the performance of pupils. WAEC sets questions on what they have in the syllabus, so teachers should be encouraged to finish the syllabus before exam.
Omoegun also urged government to provide adequate funds for the education sector in order to curb this menace and other problems associated with it. “To achieve positive results, I believe government should put the right peg in the right hole at federal and state levels, those who are in the field should be involved in decision and policy making. More funds should be pumped into the system, this will go a long way to motivate teachers, provide needed materials and basic infrastructure,” she added.
Comments :
Parents, Guardians, School authorities and government agent should ban or restrict or regulate and monitor the activities(Home video, Computer and other game, Dstv, HiTv, association)of these students. Otherwise, no bright future for the nation, parents, family and society at large. Governments & Organisations should also be blamed and change altitude towards certificate emphasis. Exemptional performance of both students & teachers not rewarded. Some pass or 3rd class students performed better.
Posted by: BANJO Stephen Abisoye , on Friday, August 19, 2011
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Students no longer fear failures due to automatic promotion imposed on schools by political governors in variours state. Blame poor results on parential guidance’s failures, Home videos, computer games, Dstv and Hi Tv football shows(Premier & champion leagues) not teachers. God provide them brain to assimilate & memorized, government provide books, classrooms, pay teachers even pay WAEC, NECO, parents provide foods, cloths etc, but they will not research and read. imagine cults in secondary sch
Posted by: BANJO Stephen Abisoye , on Friday, August 19, 2011
