Failure is one thing nobody wants to associate with. The
performance of students in public examinations has, over the
years, been characterized by mass failure which many people
have described as disgraceful. This is partly failure of the
school system. Experts say the phenomenon contributes to
the downward trend of the country’s development. In this
piece, Kuni Tyessi takes a look at the reasons responsible for
failure of students.
The poor performance of students in public examinations
such as WAEC, NECO, JAMB, NABTEB and common
entrances is becoming a recurring decima in the country.
Over the years, the mass failure has become a matter of
concern and worry to stakeholders in the education sector,
including the candidates themselves.
The Federal Ministry of Education has had cause to summon
heads of primary and secondary schools across the country
to meetings to hear their explanations on the dismal
performance of their students in public examinations. It is
obvious that the situation has not changed despite a number
of interventions. This embarrassment to the country has
continued.
Often times, parents have taken the government and school
authorities to task on the poor output of their children and
wards. The frustration and pain are more when the enormous
resources involved in the education of these young ones are
taken into consideration. The decay in the country’s
education and school system started several years ago and
unfortunately this has been allowed to continue. This is
unacceptable.
It is this singular factor that has led to the near collapse of
the public school system and promoted the proliferation of
private schools across the country. Many parents have opted
for the private schools for their children in their determination
to end the frustration and provide a better and more secure
future for the children. But are the private schools
themselves faring any better? It is debatable and an issue for
another day.
It is often said that if a method of achieving a goal is
unsuccessful, then another method should be pursued and
adopted if proven. In the education system, this has been
tried and it is not yet uhuru as mass failure has continued to
characterize students’ performance in public examinations.
A physics teacher in a private school in Abuja, Mana Jakada
attributes the mass failure to the poor reading culture among
students and the emergence of the Internet, computer games
and social media that lure the young minds away from their
books.
“How can they pass when they hardly read books and all they
do is to chat with their phones even in class? They are busy
making friends all over the world and this can be very
distracting. When you give assignments, many of them will
copy from the net and can hardly explain what they have
written. When exam comes, you can be sure they will not do
well,” Jakada said.
This raises the question- is the emergence of the Internet
and social media a blessing or a curse to the young ones? A
primary school teacher in Abuja, Monica Istifanus said “every
man-made thing has good and bad sides and today we are
experiencing the bad side of modernization which in turn is
affecting the lives of students.
“Internet is here to stay and nothing can be done about it as
it is the desire of people to have everything simplified. The
parents have a lot to do in this area as they are usually the
ones that purchase high powered gadgets for their children. If
they can make the children understand that life is in stages
and they do not need those gadgets, but face their studies
which is primarily the first they should think of, and they
stick to the terms, so much improvement will be noticed.
“Besides, the inability of parents to know the capacity of
their children when it comes to strength in various subjects is
also responsible. Many of them want their children to read
professional courses especially under the science category
without considering the ability and past results of the
children which suggest their inability to cope in those
classes. You cannot insist that your child must be a medical
doctor when he performs poorly or averagely in science core
subjects or when his interest lies more in creativity or in
commerce or art-related subjects. There’s no need toying
with the destinies of children simply because parents are
selfish and want to prove a point at the expense of the
child,” she pointed out.
A concerned parent, Beatrice Offor insists that the bulk of
the blame must go to schools. Besides not sticking to given
curricula, she alleged that change of teachers had become
so rampant in many schools that children were left confused
as to what to believe because many of these teachers would
come with different teaching methods.
“Operating a school has become more of a business and
imparting knowledge is now a second fiddle. Teachers will
always look for greener pastures at the detriment of the
students. You don’t expect students to perform well when
teachers of a particular subject are changed three or four
times before the end of a session. Besides, how many
schools complete their syllabus? Students cannot write
correctly what they have not been taught.
“Besides, the sale and acquisition of certificates does not
take place only in tertiary institutions. The scourge can be
identified even in primary and secondary schools as having a
pass mark or good grades has become a do or die affair.
There are cases of parents who buy certificates for their
children which is doctored by a school. If children know that
they have parents that can practice such, why should they
bother to pass exam?” she contended.
LEADERSHIP sought the views of a psychologist and staff of
Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna and the man who craved
anonymity said emotional, psychological, and to some extent
spiritual reasons could be responsible for failure.
“Students who are not psychologically and emotionally fit
cannot do well in exams and expecting the contrary will be
unfair to them. So many factors can be responsible for this
imbalance and some of them include being victims of broken
homes, constant change of schools, hormonal change in their
bodies, misplacement of priorities as many of them go into
relationships without considering the impact on their studies,
and the list is inexhaustible. If the problems are not
discovered and dealt with, ‘A’ students can be reduced to
average students and average students can be reduced to
poor students.
“Sometimes, even the economy can take a toll on a student
and destabilize his/her performance. You can imagine a
situation whereby a child has to walk for several kilometres
before getting to school and will have to do so after school.
He/she might not even be exposed to the right kinds of food
which will boost brain power and help in academic output.
So, even the economy and unpopular government policies
can be responsible,” he stated.
So many reasons have been adduced for mass failure of
students in public examinations. They range from poor quality
of teachers, inefficient school management, inability of
parents to be alive to their responsibilities towards their
children and wards to unseriousness on the part of students,
among other. Whatever are the real reasons, the point
remains that it is as disgraceful and embarrassing to the
country as it is frustrating and economically wasteful to
parents and highly unsettling to the students. It is a trend
that must be halted and every hand needs be on deck to
realize this. Now is the time. (Leadership)
Source-MySchoolGist
performance of students in public examinations has, over the
years, been characterized by mass failure which many people
have described as disgraceful. This is partly failure of the
school system. Experts say the phenomenon contributes to
the downward trend of the country’s development. In this
piece, Kuni Tyessi takes a look at the reasons responsible for
failure of students.
The poor performance of students in public examinations
such as WAEC, NECO, JAMB, NABTEB and common
entrances is becoming a recurring decima in the country.
Over the years, the mass failure has become a matter of
concern and worry to stakeholders in the education sector,
including the candidates themselves.
The Federal Ministry of Education has had cause to summon
heads of primary and secondary schools across the country
to meetings to hear their explanations on the dismal
performance of their students in public examinations. It is
obvious that the situation has not changed despite a number
of interventions. This embarrassment to the country has
continued.
Often times, parents have taken the government and school
authorities to task on the poor output of their children and
wards. The frustration and pain are more when the enormous
resources involved in the education of these young ones are
taken into consideration. The decay in the country’s
education and school system started several years ago and
unfortunately this has been allowed to continue. This is
unacceptable.
It is this singular factor that has led to the near collapse of
the public school system and promoted the proliferation of
private schools across the country. Many parents have opted
for the private schools for their children in their determination
to end the frustration and provide a better and more secure
future for the children. But are the private schools
themselves faring any better? It is debatable and an issue for
another day.
It is often said that if a method of achieving a goal is
unsuccessful, then another method should be pursued and
adopted if proven. In the education system, this has been
tried and it is not yet uhuru as mass failure has continued to
characterize students’ performance in public examinations.
A physics teacher in a private school in Abuja, Mana Jakada
attributes the mass failure to the poor reading culture among
students and the emergence of the Internet, computer games
and social media that lure the young minds away from their
books.
“How can they pass when they hardly read books and all they
do is to chat with their phones even in class? They are busy
making friends all over the world and this can be very
distracting. When you give assignments, many of them will
copy from the net and can hardly explain what they have
written. When exam comes, you can be sure they will not do
well,” Jakada said.
This raises the question- is the emergence of the Internet
and social media a blessing or a curse to the young ones? A
primary school teacher in Abuja, Monica Istifanus said “every
man-made thing has good and bad sides and today we are
experiencing the bad side of modernization which in turn is
affecting the lives of students.
“Internet is here to stay and nothing can be done about it as
it is the desire of people to have everything simplified. The
parents have a lot to do in this area as they are usually the
ones that purchase high powered gadgets for their children. If
they can make the children understand that life is in stages
and they do not need those gadgets, but face their studies
which is primarily the first they should think of, and they
stick to the terms, so much improvement will be noticed.
“Besides, the inability of parents to know the capacity of
their children when it comes to strength in various subjects is
also responsible. Many of them want their children to read
professional courses especially under the science category
without considering the ability and past results of the
children which suggest their inability to cope in those
classes. You cannot insist that your child must be a medical
doctor when he performs poorly or averagely in science core
subjects or when his interest lies more in creativity or in
commerce or art-related subjects. There’s no need toying
with the destinies of children simply because parents are
selfish and want to prove a point at the expense of the
child,” she pointed out.
A concerned parent, Beatrice Offor insists that the bulk of
the blame must go to schools. Besides not sticking to given
curricula, she alleged that change of teachers had become
so rampant in many schools that children were left confused
as to what to believe because many of these teachers would
come with different teaching methods.
“Operating a school has become more of a business and
imparting knowledge is now a second fiddle. Teachers will
always look for greener pastures at the detriment of the
students. You don’t expect students to perform well when
teachers of a particular subject are changed three or four
times before the end of a session. Besides, how many
schools complete their syllabus? Students cannot write
correctly what they have not been taught.
“Besides, the sale and acquisition of certificates does not
take place only in tertiary institutions. The scourge can be
identified even in primary and secondary schools as having a
pass mark or good grades has become a do or die affair.
There are cases of parents who buy certificates for their
children which is doctored by a school. If children know that
they have parents that can practice such, why should they
bother to pass exam?” she contended.
LEADERSHIP sought the views of a psychologist and staff of
Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna and the man who craved
anonymity said emotional, psychological, and to some extent
spiritual reasons could be responsible for failure.
“Students who are not psychologically and emotionally fit
cannot do well in exams and expecting the contrary will be
unfair to them. So many factors can be responsible for this
imbalance and some of them include being victims of broken
homes, constant change of schools, hormonal change in their
bodies, misplacement of priorities as many of them go into
relationships without considering the impact on their studies,
and the list is inexhaustible. If the problems are not
discovered and dealt with, ‘A’ students can be reduced to
average students and average students can be reduced to
poor students.
“Sometimes, even the economy can take a toll on a student
and destabilize his/her performance. You can imagine a
situation whereby a child has to walk for several kilometres
before getting to school and will have to do so after school.
He/she might not even be exposed to the right kinds of food
which will boost brain power and help in academic output.
So, even the economy and unpopular government policies
can be responsible,” he stated.
So many reasons have been adduced for mass failure of
students in public examinations. They range from poor quality
of teachers, inefficient school management, inability of
parents to be alive to their responsibilities towards their
children and wards to unseriousness on the part of students,
among other. Whatever are the real reasons, the point
remains that it is as disgraceful and embarrassing to the
country as it is frustrating and economically wasteful to
parents and highly unsettling to the students. It is a trend
that must be halted and every hand needs be on deck to
realize this. Now is the time. (Leadership)
Source-MySchoolGist
Fadaka Louis
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