This may be a cry over a spilled milk, but at least it will help to register the dismay of parents and guardians of the students concerned to the appropriate authorities. The unprecedented failure recorded in the 2019/2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Bauchi state is heartbreaking. About eighth thousand five hundred and fifty three (8553) candidates have failed the exam with FF. This shows an inverse relationship with the tremendous effort put in place by the education ministry in rejuvenating the state’s education sector.
With the introduction of the seemingly prudent initiatives and brand new policies, Bauchi people expect improvement not retrogression.
Unfortunately, this BECE result is a proof that some of the ministry’s initiatives are not helping matters. However, the Bauchi state ministry of education had declared that those who failed in the BECE would have to resit next year for the same type of exam. This decision may sound reasonable but has a serious side effect on these young students. Some of them may not be able to resit either due to financial constraint or complete loss of interest.
Hypothetically, more than 50 per cent of such students may likely drop out of school. Hence, complementing the outrageous number of the state’s out of school children recorded as 4.1 million; highest in the countries ranking. Also, students that dropped out may resort to heinous acts such as drug abuse and thuggery. It is safe to say; the social consequences outweigh the envisage benefit of this abrupt policy. Therefore, the ministry should consider a parent friendly policy that is result driven rather than inflating the already disgusting number of Out of school children in the state. This is possible only by convening an open session stakeholders forum to generate best of ideas to manage the situation.
I will recommend the re-introduction of demotion/repeat at all levels of our primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools not only at exit classes. You cannot allow keep promoting quack students to next classes and expect everyone to perform well during certificate examinations at exit classes. The earlier the ministry change this tactic the better for the state, exit class should not be the starting point of measurement and evaluation. The way to go is continuous assesment from primary 1 to 6, JSS I to JSS III, and SS I to SS III with intense implementation of promotion and demotion.
Regarding the schools teachers, the ministry of education should setup a monitoring committee that would be laden with the responsibility of paying unexpected visits to schools across the state, accessing teachers’ performances. And of course this should be after their welfare is fully taken care of.
Mallam Musbahu Magayaki,
Sabon Fegi, Azare,
Bauchi state
