Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

KonkNaija Media | May 3, 2016

Scroll to top

Top

Declining performance in WASSCE

Declining performance in WASSCE

| On 01, Jan 2014

The performance of candidates in the recently released 2013 November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results has shown a significant decline, compared with those of   2011 and 2012. While 86,612 persons representing 29.17 percent of those who sat for the examination for private candidates this year obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics, records show that 150,615 candidates representing 37.97 percent scored similar credits in 2012, even as 139,827 candidates representing 36.07 percent obtained similar results in 2011.
The Head of National Office (HNO) of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Charles Eguridu, who announced the results in Lagos on December 19, disclosed that while a total of 308,217 candidates registered for the examination, only 296,827 candidates, consisting 163,659 males and 133,168 females, actually sat for the examination.
The examination agency further explained that out of the total figure that sat for the examination, 299,784 candidates representing 97.26 percent have their results fully released while 8,443 candidates representing 2.74 percent have a few of their subjects still being processed due to errors in the course of registration or during the writing of the examination. A further breakdown of the results indicated that 120,115 candidates (40.46 percent) obtained six credits and above; 161,721 candidates (54.48 percent) obtained five credits and above; 198,832 candidates (66.98 percent) obtained credits and above in four subjects while 230,325 (77.59 percent) obtained credits and above in three subjects. However, a total of 256,500 candidates representing 86.41 percent obtained credits and above in two subjects. The results of 36,260 candidates representing 12.88 percent are still being withheld in connection with various cases

of examination malpractices.
Also, out of the 82 blind candidates who registered and sat for the examination, 17 candidates representing 20.73 percent obtained credits in five subjects including English Language. Blind candidates are not allowed to take Mathematics and Science Practical in the WASSCE.
Eguridu, who lamented the increasing use of mobile handsets by candidates during examinations, stated that the council has made it compulsory for all schools to provide serviceable metal detectors that would prevent candidates from smuggling mobile handsets into examination halls.
We deplore the poor outing of candidates in the latest WASSCE, and the general decline in performance of candidates, especially in the core subject areas of English Language and Mathematics. We urge the school authorities to do something urgently to rekindle the interest of students in these subjects. Government should think of special interventions to ensure that these subjects receive more attention in terms of teaching hours and provision of incentives for their teachers. Prizes could be given to the best students in English and Mathematics as a way of encouraging others to take keen interest in the subjects.
The general poor reading culture in the country and declining interest in academics by youths contribute to the increasingly abysmal performance in public examinations. When students devote more attention to music, comedy and those activities that give quick monetary rewards, performance in WASSCE is bound to reflect such negative attitude to learning.
Also, the reward system in the country does not help matters. The government and corporate organisations show more interest in supporting and rewarding performance in films, sports and comedy than academics, especially at the lower levels of education.
It has become necessary for students to pay more attention to their books. Parents should, therefore, urge their children and wards to face their studies more seriously. Let them work hard now and enjoy later. Students should be encouraged to concentrate on their studies and defer the current undue romance with social media and other activities that consume most of their time to the detriment of their studies. If the time wasted on social media and other leisure activities is dedicated to reading their books, the poor performance now being recorded in WASSCE would be a thing of the past.
Above all, there is the need to improve the quality of teaching and instructional materials in the nation’s schools, beginning from the primary level. Let us break the jinx of poor performance that has been trailing WASSCE in recent years, especially in English Language and Mathematics.

Enhanced by Zemanta