*taking a deep breath*....
Okay folks, I just read someone’s status update, and I’ve decided to do a little chat on that.
Word has it, that in the recently released WAEC/NECO examinations (I’m not precisely sure which one), 75% of the students who wrote the exam failed in Mathematics and English Language. Which goes to say, that only 25% of the thousands of students who wrote WAEC this year, were able to get the 5 credits (inclusive of Maths & English) required by universities in Nigeria (and indeed, worldwide). So, only that 25% will have a shot at entering university this year.
What seems to be the problem here? Someone would ask; is it the students that are either lazy or retarded? Or are the teachers lazy and incompetent? Or is WAEC making the exams too hard these days? Or is there sha a problem in the government somehow or the other?
This is something that I want you people to please comment on so that we can all talk about it. But first, I’d like to give my take on the issue.
First of all, we have the students. Now, being a dude that was once a student as well, I can tell you in all total confidence; that the majority of Nigerian students are downright lazy. You might ask what gives me the right to pass such judgement. Well, I was a very lazy student in secondary school. Totally and utterly lazy, (I changed my ways when I got into Uni though) failing my way through secondary school. And in all truthfulness, most of us were like that. I can honestly say that out of all of us in my class, and other classes that I observed, maybe 8% of them were actually taking school work seriously. So, by that analogy, if 25% of the people actually passed, I’d say it’s not that bad. It could actually have been worse.
As for the teachers, a good number of teachers in Nigeria are incompetent. That is true. But I don’t believe that is the case with the majority. The majority are actually competent. They know what they are doing, and they attempt to properly impart knowledge to these kids whom they stand in front of to teach (big ups to our teachers), but like I was telling my sister this morning; you can carry a donkey to the river, but after trying and trying to get it to drink water unsuccessfully, in the end it’s going to die of thirst by itself. The ones who are incompetent though, really are. And not only do they not teach our kids anything, but when examinations like WAEC come up, they actually encourage them to cheat. So yes, they deserve part of the blame as well.
WAEC. Are they making these exams harder? I have no idea because after my WAEC, I never looked at another one of their question papers again. But I do know that when it comes down to handling marking and proper coalition of results, WAEC in Nigeria is utterly described by the word incompetence. They do not handle those who mark the scripts well, they don’t pay them properly, they don’t treat them properly...and when you don’t pay a person well, what makes you imagine that the person will do a good job? In fact, I learnt from a private source, that the reason for 2008’s mass failure in WAEC, was because of WAEC’s stingy and corrupt nature. According to my source, WAEC officials, wanted to cut down on the already little amount they were spending to get the scripts marked. So to cheat our markers in Nigeria, they decided to carry the scripts to be marked in Ghana. But alas!!!! When they got to Ghana, they found that things in Ghana were better organised than in Nigeria. They would have to pay the Ghanaians by the hour (instead of per script like they would in Nigeria) at a rate which would cost them far more than it would back home. Even worse for WAEC Nigeria, they would have to put these people marking the scripts in hotels until they finished marking the scripts (i.e. they would have to provide them with accommodation and feeding)!!!!
Being the Nigerians they are, they decided to high tail all those scripts back to Nigeria. Now, here’s where kasala decided to bust. While transporting the scripts back to Nigeria by road, there was an accident, and a lot of the scripts were lost or destroyed (all na same for my eye). So instead of taking responsibility, WAEC Nigeria instead, just gave these students “Missing Result” or “F” or whatever it is they said. So, my question is; what actually happened this year???
As for the government, who always refuse to pay teachers properly, or give a proper standard for the schools to follow, I really think they deserve some beating as well.
So that’s what I think. What do you think???
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