2016 Nov/Dec WASSCE : An Improved Result

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The result of private candidates who wrote the  2016 Nov/Dec West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has been released. The result which was released on December 16,2016 shows an improvement in students' performance compared to what obtained in year 2014 and 2015.

Mr. Olu Adenipekun, who is the Head of the Nigeria National Office (HNO) of the council, said it was an improvement from the 29.37 per cent and 20.59 per cent in the two immediate preceding years respectively. He stated that a total of 66,497 (38.50 per cent) of the 172,699 candidates that sat for the examination obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.                       

175,699 candidates (99.31 per cent) of the 176,621 that were registered had their results fully processed and released.  But (0.69 per cent) representing 1,210 candidates have a few of their subjects being held due to some errors. The HNO further explained that such candidates may still have their results reconsidered and released by the examining council.       

Further analysis shows that:

 149,651 candidates (86.65 per cent ) have credits and above in two subjects

134,152 candidates (77.67 per cent) have credits and above in three subjects

116,133 candidates (67.25 per cent) have credits and above in four subjects

95,294 candidates (55.18 per cent) have credits and above in five subjects

72,229 (41.82 per cent) have credits and above in six subjects.

13,488 candidates (7.81 per cent) have their results being withheld for various cases of examination malpractice.

Ogun State Earmarks N70m For School Rehabilitation

Ogun state has earmarked the sum of 70million naira for the rehabilitation of public primary schools in the the year 2017.

The statement was made by the Chairman,  Ogun Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) during the presentation of the budget proposal to the Finance and Appropriation committee of the state's House of Assembly in Abeokuta.

Olatunde Okeowo disclosed that the amount would cover any occurrence of natural disaster in the public primary schools across the three senatorial districts of the state. According to him, the sum of N260.5 million would be used for the provision of consumable and non-consumable instructional materials, retraining of teachers and conduct of unified examination for primary schools. He further clarified that N1.5billion is for capital expenditure, while N580 million is budgeted for recurrent expenditure.

Oyo State: Razed School Structures Must Be Rebuilt By Parents

The Governor of Oyo State has stated that all schools' structures razed by student during the violent agitation for automatic promotion of students in the state must be rebuilt by the parents of children involved in the act. He made the statement during a programme in which the new education policy of the state was disclosed.

Ajimobi made known to the public that schools in the state will now be run by a Governing Board which implies that the communities and other stakeholders will be involved  in monitoring for efficiency and maintenance of high standards in schools. Th Governor posits that the era of automatic promotion is over and that 80% classroom attendance is now a pre-requisite for promotion. He said the move becomes necessary owing to the poor performance of students in public examinations since the year 1999. Ajimobi vowed that government would not order the re-opening of the razed schools unless rebuilt by the parents of the vandal students. 

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While reiterating the abolition of automatic promotion of students in schools, Ajimobi added that 80 per cent attendance to classes had also become a pre-requisite for promotion.
“The statistics of our performance in public examinations since 1999 has been discouraging. It was therefore imperative that we arrest this situation and change our way of running schools, hence the need for new education policy.
“We therefore insisted on not promoting any student who failed to meet the pass criteria, yet you have some students who decided to raze their schools in protest to the no automatic policy.
“That is untoward and we won’t accept such act. The parents of those children who razed the schools will be responsible for the re-building of those schools. If they fail to rebuild those structures, we will not order the reopening of those schools that we shut. We won’t tolerate thuggery in our schools.
“In fact, 80 per cent attendance to classes by students is also a pre-requisite for promotion. Government alone cannot be responsible for the running of schools, so there must be participation of others in the management of schools. The school governing board means the community other stakeholders will be involved in monitoring for efficiency and maintenance of high standards in schools.
“The government will continue to employ teachers and our teachers must be re-trained to be more effective. However, the School Governing Board will monitor those teachers,” he said.
The event was attended by government officials, members of the state executive council, traditional rulers, Nigeria Union of Teachers, old boys’ associations, All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), students’ associations among others.

SEX FOR MARK: LECTURERS SACKED, DEMOTED

The Federal Government of Nigeria has sacked 13 Lecturers and demoted 16 others for various offences which border around sex for mark.
The accused persons were investigated and convicted of the wrongdoing by panel set up to look into their cases.
Prior to now, such misconduct by lecturers was rampant in tertiary institutions throughout the country and has never been treated in this manner. As a result, impunity was the order of the day. Many undergraduate students particularly the female have had torrid times with such randy lecturers who had adversely affected their academic plight and forced uncompromising students out of school.
In few schools, some victims sought justice through physical and criminal confrontation with such lecturers.
However, It is hoped that this stance by government would put the disgraceful lecturers in check.
   
 

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CRIMINALISATION OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICES

For the ultimate reason of restoring the pride of the Nigerian educational certificates and the protecting the image of any issuing institutions, it is inevitable and urgent to make laws to prosecute and jail culprits in order to deter others.

The unchecked appetite for certificates as a pre-condition for enjoying any opportunities is one of the causes. Over time, the nefarious acts have attained a dimension in which parties such as teachers, school heads, parents, staff of examining bodies and examination candidates now exchange money for certificates.

It is recommended that stringent penalties like the forfeiture of due (to-be-enjoyed)  benefits and restitution of the enjoyed benefits associated with the opportunities that any illegal certificates is used to acquire. All individual persons involved should be jailed accordingly and erring institutions thoroughly sanctioned.

VERIFICATION: GHOST WORKERS, GHOST SCHOOLS DELAY TEACHERS' SALARIES

 

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The Bayelsa state government has attributed the delay in the payment of salaries of teachers in the state to the on-going verification exercise. It berates the payment scheme citing discrepancies and fraudulent activities in the payroll of the educational system.

According to the statement credited to the Secretary to the State Government, Serena-Dokubo Spiff, instances of fraudulent activities include discrepancy between approved salary vouchers and actual payment alerts received by teachers, cases of ghost teachers, ghost schools, fraudulent designation of status and fraudulent increment.

He however assured that payment will be effected as soon as the criminal practices are rooted out and the approved funds are released and made available for the purpose.

NEW MINIMUM WAGE: GOVERNMENT EXCLUDES TEACHERS

Teachers in the public primary schools in Edo state have raised alarm over their non-inclusion in the government's new minimum wage scheme.

The affected teachers through the Edo state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) decried how they have been discriminated against by the state government which paid their counterparts in the public secondary schools and other civil servants the new wage.

The government during its state broadcast on May 1st, 2016, to commemorate the international labour day pronounced a new minimum wage of  twenty-five thousand naira (N25,000) which is an  increment of seven thousand naira (N7,000).

However, the Secretary of the union in the state, Mr.Akin Adeojo urged the government to review the policy and reverse the decision.