NIGERIA: Mass failure in Public Examinations

MASS FAILURE IN WASSCE & NECO EXAMS BY NIGERIAN STUDENTS: WHO IS TO BLAME?

          English Language is a core subject in the curriculum of many countries especially those countries that were colonized by the British. Mathematics, a veritable tool involving the use of figures to solve everyday problems is also a core subject which is widely accepted all over the world as being important. Apart from these two, there are other subjects that are referred to as “core” depending on whatever field is concerned. Little wonder why it is that before an aspiring university candidate can be admitted, he or she must meet the criterion of having a credit and above at ordinary level (O’level) in these subjects. There is a dreadful monster limiting the achievement of this feat – MASS FAILURE in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examination Council (NECO) exams. This has turned to be a sore in the wound of many Nigerian students as well as the parents. But the question is “WHO IS TO BLAME?”

          Over the years now, researches have been carried out and hypotheses still being made to establish a fact that would support a certain factor as being the cause of mass failure in these exams. According to the statistics of the last NECO results given by the NECO Registrar, Professor Promise Okpala at the NECO Headquarters, Minna, only 2,119 or 0.18% of the 1,160,049 candidates that sat for the June/July 2011 NECO exams came out with Distinctions and 263,777 or 22.16% came out with a credit pass. 76,224 or 6.40% failed while 51,312 malpractices were recorded. This is a sad report on the last NECO exams. However, I would like to castigate the blame on the following factors: the government, the parents, the school and the teachers, the society at large and the students themselves.

          First, our government has a share in the blame. The lackadaisical attitude exhibited by the government towards the running of our secondary schools (especially the public ones) is too devastating! A minimal percentage of the total budget goes into the educational sector. How can a poorly furnished sector flourish? Inadequate provision of infrastructural facilities for the schools by the government has also contributed to this issue. Public secondary schools should be properly furnished by the government and not left to the parents alone or even the old students’ association. Lack of/poorly equipped laboratories, libraries and even learning materials will never make such a school conducive for learning. How can a Science student who offers Physics, Chemistry or Biology exams when he or she has never titrated, seen a simple pendulum or the structure of a typical vertebrae pass the practical aspects of these subjects at Ordinary level(O’level)? This should be pondered upon by those whom it concerns.

          Also, the parents are also to blame. Some do not want their wards to be corrected. Others prefer to pay their way through special centres, yet we are surprised that there is mass failure in these exams. Some parents have indulged in over-pampering their wards which has also led to the high rate of indolence and insolence among the youths of today. Charity, they say, begins at home.

          Then comes the blame to the school and the teachers. This is a major factor. Many teachers have engaged themselves in absenteeism and lateness to work. I don’t blame them. Rather, I would blame the school that takes in more than it can chew. The school admits more students than it can actually admit. The ratio of the students in a classroom to that of the teacher is alarmingly high! Many teachers finish from their higher institutions with motivation, zeal and passion to work. On getting to the class room and figuring out the large population there, they lose interest, thus, getting frustrated. A frustrated man is an angry man. An angry man could never be able to impart knowledge effectively. When knowledge is not effectively imparted or passed acrossed, students will definitely fail. When there are no incentives to motivate the students to be taught effectively by the teachers, teachers begin to teach without zeal.

          Moreover, the society at large has forgotten that when you train up a child in the way he should grow, when he is old, he will not depart from it. Some are not interested in correcting the wards of other parents. In fact, the contemporary society has allowed the “social life” to take over their responsibilities as parents, caregivers and even as nation builders. Lack of attention from the parents and failure to provide corrections when necessary by neighbours have led to our Nigerian students wallowing in the pride of egoism.

          However, the largest share of the blame goes to the students themselves. Most of them have allowed technology to take over their studies. The higher the rate of technology, the lower the concentration of the students; the higher their lack of preparation, the higher the rate of mass failure. This is not an effort to discourage technology, it is to actually pin-point the fact that the students have allowed social networks such as face book, twitter, hi5, 2go, Windows IM and a host of others to take the place of their dictionaries, textbooks, notebooks and the library.

          Conclusively, it would not be fair to castigate the blame on these factors without giving a balance. The government should recruit teachers into the secondary schools based on merit and not god-fatherism. Our students should realize that they are the most concerned because it is their future. Our parents should find time out of their schedules to do follow-up on their wards’ academic performances. When the round pegs is put in the round holes and the square pegs in the round holes, then can we achieve a remarkable development in our educational sector. Our Nigerian students are brilliant! They should be given the right avenue to explore and display what they have. Students are ready to learn, hence, they should be handled by teachers that are capable of teaching. Above all, good studying habits are the most useful tool towards curbing this hydra-headed monster – Mass Failure in NECO and WASSCE exams.