The Zonal Coordina
tor of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Rivers State, Mr Ubak Humphrey, has blamed governments and teachers for the failure of candidates in the two compulsory subjects (Mathematics and English) in Nigeria.
Mr Humphrey, who stated this in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, hinted that although the candidates and parents also contributed to the failure, the bulk of the blame should go to government and the teachers.
On the part of government, he said, non-sustainability of policies on education has contributed immensely to the poor educational system in the country.
“Today, this government will come, introduce one programme, tomorrow another government will come and introduce another programme”, he said.
Beyond this, the zonal WAEC boss said both government and school proprietors seem to be comfortable employing unqualified teachers.
“Most of the teachers are not qualified. You now have somebody who doesn’t have basic training in teaching or training other people. If you do not have a good foundation, what are you going to teach?
“Once a building is built on faulty foundation, there will be crisis”, he said.
According to him, candidates on their part, currently dedicate lesser time to study, preparatory to writing examinations.
“Most of our students don’t read anymore. Some always look out for people to write for them, hence the increase in examination malpractices”.
As a contributory factor Humphrey stated further, parents/guardians currently indulge in providing what they regard as one form of help or the other for their children/wards towards ensuring that they pass their exams.
Some parents, he said, “are ready to pay money at all cost to ensure that their children pass their exams. Some of them even hire mercenaries to write for their children.