Opinion
Tackling Poor Education Standard In Nig.
The abysmal performance of Nigerian
students in Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), West African School
Certificate (WASC), National Examination Council (NECO) and other similar
examinations across the country has become a major concern to many people.
The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde
Fashola recently raised an alarm over the poor result of O’level examinations
released in the state. Public Affairs analyst, educationists and other stake
holders had showed similar concern and called for concerted effort to change
the situation in the interest of the future of the nation.
Sometimes it’s amusing when one hears all
these complains because anybody who has been following the trend in our
education sector, should know and appreciate that there is an appalling fall in
the standard of our education.
The result of entrance examination into the
tertiary institutions across the country for 2012 released by JAMB some weeks
ago indicated that out of over 1.5 million candidates who sat for the
examination, only three scored 300 and above, 72,243 scored 250 and above,
while 601,151 got marks ranging from 200 to 249. in all, only 673,397 scored
above 200, which enable them gain admission into universities.
Honestly, contrary to some people’s
expression of disappointment over these results, I am not surprised at all.
As a matter of fact, I think these results
are very impressive compared to the standard of education in the country and if
something is not done urgently, we may be in for worse situations.
Many Nigerians today send their children
and wards to different African countries, Europe, America and even Asia, in
search of quality education. Records show that a particular school in Ghana has
half of its students population made up of Nigerian students.
But don’t be quick to condemn these
parents. A tour of some pubic schools in the country reveals complete infrastructural decay. What
of the quality of teaching and materials? Gone were the days when people took
to teaching due to their love for the profession.
Today, many people go into teaching because
of unemployment or lack of better things to do. This is almost peculiar with
private schools who employ people with any qualification or background and pay
them meagerly. Stories have it that some school certificate holders, or even
school drop-outs who where engaged by some private nursery schools as minders
are also used as nursery school teachers.
In this case, you begin to wonder what
those children were being taught. The fact that half of the students who sat
for a university entrance examination failed raises questions on the quality of
teachers that prepared them for the examination.
Teachers may want to accuse the students of
laziness and of not taking their academic work seriously. They will blame
students for spending most of their time on social network, playing computer
games and watching films. But the teachers can do better if they put more efforts
and show more commitment, interest and zeal to their duties and not carrying
out their responsibilities grudgingly.
But then, it is impossible for one to give
what he does not have. The quality of the teachers nowadays is a product of the
decay and poor quality of our tertiary education. A recent newspaper report had
it that some school proprietors raised alarm over the poor quality of students
coming out of higher institutions in the country.
Indeed, the falling standard of education
can be traced to so many factors. Education in Nigeria is poorly funded. This
has led to poor infrastructure, inadequate hostel accommodation for
undergraduates, poor laboratory facilities and out-dated teaching aids in the
tertiary institutions.
The direct results are the incessant strike
action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), poor academic and
research work which translates to churning out of half-baked graduates.
In the past, pupils who did not perform
well in examinations were asked to repeat some classes. Today, the situation is
different. Mass promotion is the new trend. Every school proprietor wants to
prove that his pupils are the best so they embark on mass promotion even when
some of those promoted barely know their lefts from their rights.
What of the parents? What are they doing
towards ensuring that their children get quality education? Some parents,
particularly the fathers, believe that having paid the children’s school fees,
they have discharged their duties. Some parents don’t even care whether their
children do their home work or not, or even take time to go through their
school work. All their interest is in making money, believing that with money,
they can buy quality education.
That probably explains why some parents,
especially mothers go the extent of buying question papers or merceneries to
write examinations for their children. I wonder what the future of such
children will be like.
Obviously, the problem of education sector
in Nigeria is multi-faceted and it needs a multi-faceted effort to tackle it if
we must achieve Vision 20:20:20 we’re talking about. From the family, to the
schools, up to the government, we all have roles to play. Unless we stop paying
lip service to education, we will continue to have more failures.
It will amount to wishful thinking if
parents think their children and wards will perform better in future
examinations if they do not start now to pay attention to their academic works
and guide them right.
Calista Ezeaku
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