No country can ever develop, unless its citizens are educated, according to late Nelson Mandela.
This axiom can be related to a recent disclosure by head of WAEC National Office, Charles Eguridu, that the council withheld results of 118, 101 candidates who engaged in examination malpractices.
He added that the candidates from public schools in the 13 states may not get their results unless their state governments pay up their registration fees or produce bank guarantees committing them to paying the debt.
Mr. Eguridu said out of 1,593,442 candidates who sat for the examinations, only 616,370 candidates came out with credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.
In 2013, only 639,760 candidates obtained five credits in English and Mathematics while in 2014, just 529,425 candidates obtained five credits in English and Mathematics.
In 2016, May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) 137,295, results were withheld, the representing 8.89% candidates just as 878,040 candidates, representing 52.97%, obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics. All these results are proofs that there is mass failure of SSCE.
How did we get here? There are so many dimensions to this problem – government, teachers, parents and students.
Government seems to have failed in its constitutional duty to provide qualitative education to the people. Parent and their wards have contributed to the fallen standard of education as they attempt to cheat in examinations.
It is therefore important that while government is obliged to provide qualitative education, students owe a corresponding duty to pay attention to their studies as there is no short cut to success.
Asiya Mustapha Sani,
Bayero University,
Kano.
