WAEC results, barometer of a mismanaged educational system

The headline in the Vanguard newspapers of August 11, 2014 aptly captures the mood of most Nigerians on the release of the results of the Senior School Certificate Examination conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC); Mass failure as WAEC releases results!

This heralds the beginning of another season of lamentations, the yearly ritual that follows the release of May/June and the Nov/ Dec SSCE results by the WAEC and the National Examination Council (NECO) respectively; a ritual occasioned by the consistently poor performance by Nigerian students in these examinations over these many years.

According to Mr. Charles Eguridu, Head of the WAEC National office in Nigeria, only 529,425 of 1,692,435 candidates that sat for the May/June examination obtained credits in five (5) subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.” This represents a 31.28% pass rate and a marginal decline in performance compared to the 38.81 and 36.57 percent pass rate achieved in 2012 and 2013 respectively. However, to many Nigerian, this is a huge blow to their dreams of an improved and qualitative educational system which they had believed would catapult them from the present grinding poverty to a better life tomorrow. The gravity of this performance is even more profound when viewed against the backdrop of the highly prevalent examination malpractice which permits even stack illiterates to secure five credits, including English language and Mathematics without seeing the four walls of a secondary school classroom.

It is pertinent to note that the poor performance in the senior school certificate examination is not a recent development or accidental occurrence in Nigeria. From the records at our disposal, the pass-rate in the May/June WASCE for the past seven years has fluctuated between 20.04 to 38.81 percent. The performances in the Nov/Dec examinations are even more atrocious.

Furthermore, performances in the science subjects have been extremely poor with pass rates dipping below one percent in some subjects. It is profound that this situation is unfolding at a time when the man at the helms of affairs in the nation was in the education profession before climbing into the exalted position of President of the most populous nation in Africa. Our expectations of a golden era in educational development at his inauguration have however been scuttled by the lack luster performance of his appointed administrators in the educational sector.

The most worrisome aspect of this development is that no solution appears to be in the horizon. Sometimes, I wonder if the President himself is aware of the depth of the problem and the potential implication on his transformation agenda. And there is also a potential implication on national unity as educational backwardness is often accompanied with economic problems leading to different forms of social unrests. In the recent past, less than zero point one percent of candidates secured the five credits required for admission into Nigerian universities in a state in the north east. The outbreak of violent insurgency in the same region can only further aggravate the problem. All these are likely to affect the ability of the nation to pursue and realise her aspirations in the various fields of science and technology.

Unfortunately, there has been no concerted effort to turn around the situation. Dilapidated and overcrowded facilities still feature prominently in our educational system. The teachers training process is very inefficient and the teachers employment process still shrouded in corruption and sharp practices and aggravating the phenomenon of teachers who cannot read and write. Meanwhile the State Governments are sponsoring many unprepared candidates to sit for the West African School Certificate Examinations at great costs but very little returns. Examination malpractice still remains the preferred method of achieving success in many public examinations as long as there are no penalties.

At the federal level, the government seems to lack the political will to take the bull by the horn. The managers of our educational system seem to have no personal stake in the system as their offspring are taking advantage of the functional and well funded educational system in the West at great cost to the Nigerian public. Appointment of a competent and dedicated education minister seem to have been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.

The minister of state for education recently reeled out his “impressive” achievements in the educational sector to party faithful in the Peoples Democratic Party; but the ordinary Nigerian who wears the shoe knows where it is pinching. The qualities of teachers, teaching and learning have not improved; until then there will be no improvement in the educational sector.

The President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should remember that it is the functional educational system of the past that gave him the opportunity to become the President of Nigeria; he should not deny others this same opportunity!

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