BY Laju Arenyeka & Favour Anthony
About 69% of Nigerian students who wrote the last
West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations,
WASSCE, failed. If this statistic is anything to judge the
education sector by, it would mean that only about
three out of ten students currently in the nation’s
secondary schools will be qualified for the tertiary level
at the end of their secondary school careers.
It would also mean that seven out of ten Nigerian
students are unqualified to leave secondary school after
six years. Who is to blame for this dismal performance,
and inadvertently the overall failure of the education
sector?
To answer this question, Vanguard School Life, VSL, first
turned to the students. A student from Command Day
Secondary School who failed English Language told our
reporters: ‘The time given was too short, and as a
result of this, I didn’t finish answering the questions.’
The student, who did not want her name in print, had
hoped to rely on her friends to give answers to
questions she didn’t know. However, this was not
possible. ‘The invigilators were too strict,’ she said, ‘so
I didn’t have the opportunity to ask my friends for
answers I didn’t know.’’
She wasn’t the only one counting on examination
malpractice. Another student, Tobi Isaac (not real
name), who failed Mathematics, said he did not like the
subject and knew that he was going to fail even before
the examinations began. He said: ‘I don’t like Maths,
and I also dislike my teacher, so, I didn’t bother to
prepare, because I already knew I would fail Maths
before writing the exams. That is why I paid someone
to provide me with the answers; but I was disappointed,
it turned out that the person was not legitimate.’
Another candidate who also preferred to remain
anonymous told VSL, “I don’t have any plans to school
in Nigeria; that is why I did not take the exams
seriously. I want to attend a private school abroad and
that just requires a lot of money.’
Yet another candidate who failed the examinations
spoke to our reporters. He blamed his failure on his
addiction to social media. He said: ‘I was really
distracted by social media. I was always fond of my
phone. Even a day before examinations when some of
my friends were reading, I was busy with BBM and
Instagram.”
Recall that a total of 529,425 candidates, representing a
meagre 31.28 per cent, obtained credits in five subjects
and above, including English Language and
Mathematics. When compared to the 2012 and 2013
May/June WASSCE results, there was marginal decline
in the performance of candidates as 38.81 per cent was
recorded in 2012 and 36.57 per cent in 2013.
Mr. Mark Okoh, Principal of Caro Favoured College in
Lagos, gives reasons for this decline. ‘There are a lot of
combined factors responsible for this’ he said, ‘there
was less commitment on the part of the Government,
teachers, as well as students.
Last year, all hands were on deck to ensure that the
performance was better. I guess everyone relaxed this
year because of the performance of last year. Another
issue is the fact that the average Nigerian student reads
for examinations. Even when the school calendar is
running, students do not study. They wait till exams are
around the corner and begin the fire brigade approach.’
For the Education Rights Camaign, ERC, the blame
should be placed solely at the feet of the Government.
In a Press statement signed by its National Coordinator,
Mr. Hassan Soweto, the ERC said: ‘Far from being the
fault of the individual candidates, this disastrous result
is a reflection of the failure of the anti-poor and
capitalist neo-liberal policies of education underfunding
and commercialization by government at all levels in the
country. Government at all levels has pursued a
relentless policy of starving public education funds such
that public primary and secondary schools across the
country have become devastated with little or no
teaching infrastructures such that no useful learning is
taking place.’
Recall that a member of the House of Representatives,
Chief Yomi Ogunnusi, even traced the poor performance
to erratic power supply in the country. Ogunnusi, who
represents Ifako-Ijiaye constituency in Lagos, said that
unstable power supply in the country was disincentive
to learning, adding that it had discouraged students
from studying hard.
The buck is now being passed on from power to social
media, from Government to students, but the truth
remains that if all stakeholders do not begin to take
responsibility immediately, another blame game will
begin when the next WASSCE results are released.

Dividends of Smartphones

The student, who did not want her name in print, had
hoped to rely on her friends to give answers to
questions she didn’t know. However, this was not
possible. ‘The invigilators were too strict,’ she said, ‘so
I didn’t have the opportunity to ask my friends for
answers I didn’t know.’’

Descartes:

so hilarious

Instead of them to read their books, they are busy chatting away their time about god knows what, 69 position??

The problems are 24 hrs tv( DSTV), face book, 2GO, nairaland, BBM and what have you. All the afore mentioned have succeeded in distracting our teenagers from their books.

I don't see any change in view except parents go back to the era of strict parenting.

Ramon92: Instead of them to read their books, they are busy chatting away their time about god knows what, 69 position??

teachers, parents and government must start acting now, before its too late if its not already

Tundeiab: The problems are 24 hrs tv( DSTV), face book, 2GO, nairaland, BBM and what have you. All the afore mentioned have succeeded in distracting our teenagers from their books.

I don't see any change in view except parents go back to the era of strict parenting.

I partially agree with you. Do you think all the "good" students are not doing all the listed problems?

Guider ultimate search 10 million plus edorsements
Mtn project fame 7.5million plus SUV
Glo naija sings 5m plus Suv
Etisalat Nigerian Idol  5milion plus multimillion NGN contract 
Cowbell mathematics competition  N100k
Spelling Bee N50k
Cool for spelling game, a duffle bag filled with amilia drinks. 
Why won't students fail Waec?

ArabaONE:

I partially agree with you. Do you think all the "good" students are not doing all the listed problems?

They do them but with moderation.

Tundeiab: They do them but with moderation.

okay, but I still think the government and parents should be held more for this massive failure.

goldfish80: Guider ultimate search 10 million plus edorsements
Mtn project fame 7.5million plus SUV
Glo naija sings 5m plus Suv
Etisalat Nigerian Idol  5milion plus multimillion NGN contract 
Cowbell mathematics competition  N100k
Spelling Bee N50k
Cool for spelling game, a duffle bag filled with amilia drinks. 
Why won't students fail Waec?  

so funny......but frankly, you are very correct!

For me o its too much of instagram.suddenly its raining imagine a 13yr old gal looking for followers

snrman: For me o its too much of instagram.suddenly its raining imagine a 13yr old gal looking for followers

have to laugh to this....hahahaha