Hassan Ayomide, a year two pupil of
Lagooz College, Lagos, was in a pensive mood on Friday, July 4. He and
his colleagues were sitting for the first Unified Examination of the
Lagos State National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools with
anxiety written all over their faces.
The 12-year-old might be a little sweaty,
but he was confident of his ability to pass. “I feel a little bit
nervous. I am writing four papers today but I am sure that I will scale
through. I passed my National Common Entrance Examination and I think
this one should not pose a challenge,” he said.
Ayomide was one of the 11,698 pupils who
sat for the examination on July 4. The Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination was an attempt by the NAPPS, a body of over 2,000 private
schools in Lagos, to expose pupils to the rudiments of sitting for
examinations such as the West African Examination Council, Unified
Tertiary Matriculations Examinations, and others.
According to the NAPPS Lagos State
chairman, Mr. Yomi Otubela, the examination, which cost the association
over N25m, was tailored “with the sole aim of preparing, testing and
getting the pupils used to the pattern of examinations they would face
during their year of graduation from the primary and secondary schools.”
Otubela referred to the incessant mass
failure in key subjects such as Mathematics and English in external
examinations. For instance, statistics from the WAEC shows that 80 per
cent of the candidates who sat for the 2012/2013 examinations failed
these key subjects. During the same year, just 10 students scored above
300 marks, while 801,804 candidates scored below 200 marks.
The NAPPS chairman seemed convinced that
exposing students to questions from independent bodies over time has the
potential of reversing the failure in key subjects.
The chairperson of the Unified
Examination Committee, Mr. Wande Majekodunmi, said the examination had
the advantage of engendering healthy rivalry among private schools as
each school and its teachers would endeavour to complete the curriculum
as the examination approaches.
Our correspondent noted that the
examination, which involved 80 private secondary schools and 260 primary
schools across the state, was conducted in a professional manner.
Pupils were issued with examination numbers and earned certificates
after the examination. External examiners were members of the
examination committees selected from various NAPPS chapters in the
state.
Each chapter also has a distribution
centre where examination papers were circulated to various examination
centres. In each examination centre monitored by this reporter,
different schools were in attendance, while an invigilator was assigned
to 30 pupils.
The chairperson, Agege Chapter, and
proprietress, Rahman Private School, Alhaja Ramotallai Ogunmuyiwa, told
our correspondent that the examination was conducted in 12 centres in
Agege. She was also of the view that results of the examination could be
used for transfer purposes among member schools.
An official of Periscope Security and
Safety Company, Mr. Jeremiah Ashayan, said his organisation was in
charge of quality control, preventing leakage and the safe
transportation of question papers across centres.
Otubela said the Academy Press, which
printed the examination papers, would also be involved in the monitoring
and evaluation process. “We will have to evaluate the examination at
the end of the day. Where pupils have failed, we will organise seminars,
workshops and trainings for the teachers. Then, we have to find out if
the methodology of teaching is responsible for the results or if the
problem is structural.
“For instance, the ongoing World Cup
could affect the degree of attention pupils pay to their studies. Even
teachers could be carried away by the euphoria. We are going to engage
in performance comparison from chapter to chapter. We will be comparing
pupil to pupil and teacher to teacher,’’ he said.
Though plans for the NAPPS examination
had been in the pipeline for a while, the examination still grappled
with the teething challenges of a novel idea. In some centres at Agege,
examinations did not get underway until 9am. The chief invigilator at
Rahman Private School, Mrs. Maryam Adeyemi, said though supervisors were
around by 7am, the question papers did not arrive from the distribution
centre on time.
At Bright Hope Comprehensive College,
another centre in Ogba, the chief invigilator, Mr. Augustine Awuje,
complained of a degree of confusion during the distribution of the
examination scripts. Awuje, who is also the principal of the school, was
not comfortable that pupils from different classes sat in the same
examination hall.
“The supervisors are very ready and we
all attach great importance to the examination. If we are going to have
primary six pupils in a class, let it be that way. The confusion will be
less that way,” he said.
At Mind Builders School, Ikeja, the
question papers arrived early and the examination commenced by 7am. But
the proprietress, Mrs. Bola Falore, pointed to errors in the packaging
of the question papers. “Some question papers were not complete and we
had no extra copies. Some shading papers were also missing and we had to
make photocopies,” she said.
About 18 schools participated in the
NAPPS examination out of the 26 schools registered with the association
in Ikeja. Falore, who is also the chairperson of Ikeja chapter,
attributed the development to skepticism on the part of parents.
“You know, it is a new idea. Some people
are early birds and some are not. Some parents said they liked the idea
but would like to see how it goes,” said Falore.
It was also observed that pupils from
various schools pay different fees for the examination. While some paid
N4,000, others paid N2,000 or N1,500 as the case might be.
A professor of Public Administration, Mr.
Ladipo Adamolekun, has also hailed the NAPPS examination, saying it is a
step in the right direction.
“I think it makes sense. I welcome
anything that enhances merit. We should support anything that helps
students to perform better. If that approach will promote excellence,
then it is okay. It is similar to what Governor Kayode Fayemi introduced
in Ekiti State in 2011. All year 11 pupils across the state were made
to write a uniform examination as a sort of guaging how they will
eventually fare when they write NECO or JAMB. It helps to reduce the
patronage of miracle centres and also puts teachers on their toes,” he
said.
However, a professor with the Faculty of
Education, Lagos State University, Ojo, Mr. Ademola Onifade, has
described the actions of the Lagos NAPPS as unnecessary. According to
him, the examination would put an undue stress on the pupils and
participating schools.
“Students should be allowed to go through
their school years without unnecessary stress. Give them a free hand
and they would be willing to study hard. I don’ think the examination is
necessary because of the logistics and pressure it would put on the
pupils.
“I don’t subscribe to the view that it
would make them perform better. What the schools need is quality and
committed teachers and good learning facility,” he said.
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