TWO most critical factors responsible for the continued annual mass failure in WAEC and NECO exams are the under-aged status of most candidates and a flawed school curriculum. All other factors are secondary. It is baffling that nobody has ever mentioned underage, for example, as an important factor in this crisis; yet, my investigation shows that it is the primary cause of mass failure in school public exams in the country. Common sense would tell you that if you have two categories of students, made up of teenagers of say 15 years old and adults of say age 25 in the same class; teach them the same thing and later subject them to the same examination, the adult group would perform better because of maturity, better developed intellect, exposure and experience.
In the same vein, it is preposterous to expect today’s mostly under-aged candidates to record the same level of excellence as candidates of yesteryear, who were mostly adults above age 20 and more matured. The way out is for the authorities to insist on age as a factor in primary one school enrolment. Once that is achieved, it would roll over to the tertiary institutions, where similar problems subsist.
Age six (6) is the official primary school starting age in America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Whereas, the same applies in Nigeria, it is merely on paper; the rule is not enforced. Most children in Nigeria start primary school at age 4 or thereabout.
Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, when candidates performed excellently well in London GCE, Senior Cambridge examinations and WAEC, few candidates who sat for those examinations were not less than 18 years old. Majority were in their 20s and even 30s. Those were adult men and women, who had their personal vision to go to school, without being pushed by parents or guardians, as we have today. Many were working class adults, earning income (in the case of private candidates), who decided on their own, without persuasion, to register for November/December GCE examinations, as a step towards accomplishing their goal.
Those candidates had focus on what to do with their lives. Those were the days we had bearded men and marriageable girls in school. Many candidates then studied on their own, using home study series published by Daily Times. Other registered with local and foreign correspondence colleges that supplied lectures through the post office. I remember using the Exam Success Correspondence College’s lectures alone to prepare for my GCE Advanced Level and passed at first attempt.
How many students today could confidently state why they are in school and what they want to do? That era has gone. What we have today are pampered daddies and mummies children, who can’t even go to their school alone without being accompanied by parents/guardians, who do everything from registration to checking into the dormitory.
That explains why parents and guardians, who bear the vision on behalf of these under-aged students are ready to do anything (including cheating in examinations), to ensure that these students passed. That is why parents and guardians cluster around examinations halls, especially, for the November/December GCE examinations, looking for ways to assist their wards. Most of the candidates can’t on their own come to the examination centres without being accompanied. Their parents and guardians bring them and stay put to do the examination for them if possible!
Gone are the days when children were tested for maturity by placing their right hand across their head to see if it reached the left ear. If it did, the child was admitted in primary one. If it didn’t, the child was told to go and come back next year (irrespective of the age), and the parents had no choice than to comply. By using this crude method, children with stunted growth could not be admitted into primary one until they were seven or eight years old. But it had the advantage that the child was fully matured physically and mentally to begin school.
If a child starts primary school at age 6, when you add another six years in primary school and another six in secondary school, the child would be 18 years by the time he or she sits for WAEC or NECO, if there was no repeat in any class. But for those that repeated class, they may clock 20 before sitting for WAEC/NECO.
Contrast this with what is happening today. Parents put their kids into kindergarten at age one or thereabout. By age 4, they enter into primary one. By age 9, they’re in junior secondary one (JSS1); and by age 14, they’re already candidates for WAEC and NECO, when actually they should be entering junior secondary school, if proper age was followed. I have seen candidates who sat for WAEC at age 13. The truth is that the immaturity at this age is responsible for the mass failure of candidates. Educationists know that age has a lot to do in the life of a child. It needs to be reversed if we want to restore the high performance of yesteryear.
The official admission age into university here is 16. But thousands of candidates who do WAEC at age 13 or 14, find their way into university at age 15 and looking forward to graduation at age 18, when actually they should be sitting for WAEC/NECO. Unfortunately, because of immaturity, many of the students in tertiary institutions are easily lured into cultism and other anti-social activities. The country loses at both ends.
The second factor is the highly flawed and defective school curriculum being operated in the country. Like every other warped thing in the country, the school curriculum has been bastardized for selfish ends. Besides, the frequent changes and tinkering with many subjects have made a mess of the curriculum.
For instance, gone are the days when students studied Algebra, Geometry and Arithmetic as separate subjects. Today, the three have been merged into one subject – mathematics. That may still be okay. During the 60s and 70s, the school curriculum was robust. In those days, Physics, Chemistry and Biology were studied as separate subjects right from class one. Today, these critical science subjects have been merged into one hopeless Basic Science taught in junior secondary school.
Today, students begin to study Physics, Chemistry and Biology in senior secondary school for barely two and half years before sitting for WAEC and NECO. How do you expect the under-aged candidates, to master these subjects within such very short time for them to do well? In the past, these subjects were taught to adult students for five years, right from class one; they grasped it and did well in exams.
If candidates can’t do well in English and Mathematics that are still taught from junior secondary one (JSS1), how do you expect them to perform well in the sciences that have been neutralised and taught for only two and half years in secondary school? There would be no improvement except we return to the old system in age and curriculum. The same curriculum battering effectively removed history and geography as subjects taught from JSS1 and neutralised them into meaningless Social Studies. And yet, that subject is not in WAEC or NECO for candidates to be examined.
Apart from the foregoing two critical factors, the other factors that have been advanced include poor school infrastructure, poorly motivated teachers, policy somersaults, unconducive learning environment, and pervasive use of mobile phones and Internet and their distractions. Some have even included epileptic power supply as a factor. But this is untenable because many students in the 60s, 70s and 80s never had electricity to study in school or privately at home, and yet they made excellent results. Many in the past studied with bush lamp and candles and yet made it.
The point is that once a student is mature enough to decide for him or herself, if he/she decides to go to school, he/she would follow it up with vigor and determination to succeed. That was what happened in the past and why the general performance was very good. But if you push an under-aged child to school, you should be prepared to do everything for him or her because he/she can’t decide for him/herself. A conducive school environment with the best library won’t make any difference. Quality teachers and how they are motivated won’t help. Many of us were taught by ex-students who did very well in WAEC.
None of these would help because of the age problem. The under-aged is easily carried away. How many adults, for example, are addicted to their phones/Internet as these youngsters? They’re more preoccupied with these mundane things than their future. The parents and guardians are more preoccupied with the future on their wards’ behalf. Government should enforce the age requirement and overhaul the school curriculum and see if things won’t change. Otherwise, the same mass failure would play out again next years. It has even become the norm we have to live with.
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