Mixed Reaction Over mass failure in The May/June 2014 (WASSCE) results

             Some Nigerians have expressed mixed reactions on the 70 per cent mass failure in the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results. Our friends at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) conducted a survey on Friday and a cross section of the Nigerians interviewed, attributed the failure to non-charlatan attitude by students, teachers and the government.

          Prof. Chris Okoro, the Commissioner for Education, Enugu State, attributed the mass failure to poor reading culture by students. “Students no longer read because they know they can engage in examination malpractice. So, how do you think they can pass the examinations? “If you look at that result critically, you will find out that a good number of the failures must have participated in examination malpractices,’’ he said.
Okoro said the mass failure could also be attributed to lack of proper coordination by the students during the exercise. “Some of the students forget they are writing examination and start writing the ways they
text GSM messages.’’

        He said the Federal Government had been doing a lot to improve the education system through funding, training, provision of structures, among others. “It is time for stakeholders, such as the students, teachers, and  parents, among others, to take responsibility for their actions,’’ okoro said.
He advised that anybody found involved in examination malpractice should be sanctioned.
Mr Lawal Adebola, a senior official in the Ministry of Education, Ogun, also attributed the mass failure to lack of commitment from students, teachers and parents. “We cannot blame specific group for the mass failure, it is a  collective responsibility, we are all guilty and we need to look for a way out to solve the problem. “We need to work further to ensure that students at that level are well catered for by the government, by the system, the school and teachers.‘’

        Adebola said there was need for the re-orientation of the students to actually know why they were in school and the essence of WAEC certificate.
Mrs Elizabeth Ugo, the Commissioner for Education, Benue State, said the mass failure could be linked to ‘unserious attitude’ of students.
Ugo called on teachers to ensure that students were prepared with the required syllabus for them to do better in the future. “We need to sit up and do much more in preparing the students for terminal examinations. “Many children today do not read but spend so much time on the internet. We have to imbibe the culture of reading in our children,’’ she advised.