It was a show of shame last Friday at the headquarters of the West African Examination Council, Yaba, Lagos, when the Head of National Office, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae, said he was proud to be a Nigerian despite the poor performance of candidates in the WASSCE.

He rated the performance of Nigerian candidates as the best when comparing it with those of other four African nations, which included Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Liberia and Gambia.

Uwadiae’s comment came as a shock to most journalists who had berated the results of May/June 2009 West African Senior School Certificate Examination. But to their surprise, the HNO said that Nigeria ’s poor performance was better than performances of the other four member countries, including Ghana .

To some of the journalists, to be candid, Uwadiae’s commentary was untenable. He had based his argument on the number of Nigerian candidates who had won WAEC best results awards in recent times. He posited that Nigerians had won the awards on several occasions and at a time the country dominated the lists of the awardees for years.

However, in order not to turn the news conference to a session of probe, the journalists had to keep mute to allow the HNO to defend the poor results.

One would have expected the HNO to use the candidates’ population as one of the factors to deduce the best performing country. Perhaps this would have revealed a better evaluation of the countries’ performance, bearing in mind that the population of the four member countries put together is less than that of Nigeria alone.

Statistics shows that out of over one million candidates that sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination every year, Nigerian candidates account for about 800, 000,  which, in other words, means that the WASSCE is virtually a Nigerian show.     

In term of population, comparing Nigeria’s performance with others’ will be a disservice to the other four member countries, especially Ghana whose record of academic excellence is gradually becoming an issue on the continent.

One is disturbed that the performance of Nigerian candidates is yet to improve, as only 25 per cent of them passed the May/June 2009 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

The statistics shows that over 700,000, out of 1,273,099 candidates who sat for the examination failed without credit in English Language and Mathematics.

According to Uwadiae, who announced the results on Friday, only 356,981 candidates passed with five credits, including English Language and Mathematics out of 1,273,099 that sat for the examination.

It will be recalled that 23.5 per cent of the candidates passed the examination last year with most of them having their results withheld due to various malpractices.

Out of the successful candidates, Uwadiae said 116,729 of them were science students; 33,024 social science while 100,632 were arts oriented student.

In his analysis, the HNO stated that the results of 109,201 candidates were withheld due to alleged involvement in examination malpractices.

According to him, 1,007,659 candidates had two credits and above; 860,665 had three credits and above, 718,269 had four credits and above; 574,108 candidates obtained five credits and above while 426, 244 candidates have six credits and above but without English Language and Mathematics.

Uwadiae stated that the reports of those involved in examination malpractices were being compiled for presentation to the Nigeria Examinations Committee of the council, which would communicate to the candidates through their schools.

What are the likely causes of mass failure in WASSCE? The HNO said it was due to nonchallant attitude of teachers, students and parents to learning.

He explained that most teachers were not ready to teach anymore because they were not being motivated by government while students seldom read due to the proliferation of cybercafés.

“The society has been so proliferated with adulterated culture to the extent that students no longer listen to their parents anymore. Parents find it difficult to tell their children to read. Even where parents could do so, there are no books that could entice the children. Our children now run after money but not knowledge,” he said.

However, in its effort to provide adequate service in the conduct of examination, the council would be introducing electronic-marking.

According to Uwadiae, the technology will check examination malpractices among the teachers and candidates and enable the council to release the examination results on schedule.

He also stated that the council would soon introduce electronic-verification of certificate, adding that the system would reduce the stress of individuals, institutions and companies that would like to verify candidates’ results.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/24092009/thr/edu.html