WASSCE: Reversing the Trend of Mass Failure

The unending sequence of poor performances in almost all examinations conducted across the country in recent years is becoming worrisome.
Just two days ago, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) released the results for the Nov/Dec 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Exams (WASSCE) for private candidates. According to the Head of National Office of WAEC, Dr. Charles Eguridu, only 29 percent of 246,853 candidates that sat for the exams made credits in five subjects including English and Mathematics.
Compared with the results of 2013, this represents an improvement when only 26.97 percent of the candidates made the benchmark for admission into tertiary institutions.
It would be recalled that percentage of those who made the grade in 2012 was 38.84. These grave statistics are cause to worry anyone with the educational advancement of the country at heart. Much has been said over the years about the declining standard of education in the country. Sadly, no serious and concerted efforts are being made by all relevant stakeholders to address the issue. A situation where the number of candidates who pass Mathematics and English, is declining every year should be immediately addressed.
A lot of reasons have been adduced for the high rate of failure among candidates. Among them are poor quality of secondary education and the lackadaisical conduct of education authorities, teachers, parents and students, and consequently the total abandonment of the education sector.
On the other hand, it has been observed that the students are no more giving adequate attention to academic studies as before, while the teachers are becoming indifferent to their vocation. Most crucially, the crisis affecting the Nigerian family institution has in no small way contributed to the rot. Unfortunately, with inefficient education ministries, schools with demotivated and frustrated teaching faculty, students are largely left to drift and in the end enter the larger society with poor literacy skills. But much of the blame should go to the country’s dysfunctional education system. For example, pass rates in South Africa’s National Secondary Certificate examination, which is the equivalent of WAEC in Nigeria; have been in the range of 70 percent and above.
The crucial challenge facing Nigeria is how to ensure that her huge and growing youth population acquires the proper skills that would enhance its productivity and the overall productivity of the economy. If this does not happen, and fast, there are fears that Nigeria risks losing its opportunity to grow into a frontline economy by the second half of the 21st century.

*This was published in the Daily Times dated Wednesday, December 24, 2014