Unknown to many, Kwara State blazed the trail in teachers’ assessment test, which it conducted without a fuss in 2008. When Ekiti attempted to toe the line a few months ago, it incurred teachers’ire. Now Bayelsa is insisting on a test for its teachers, threatening to sack those who refuse to sit for the exam. Kofoworola Belo-Osagie reports
Teachers are vital in the learning process. The success or failure of pupils depends largely on them. This is why whenever there is mass failure in public examination, they are vicariously held liable.
The performance in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has improved of recent but it is still far from being impressive.
In the 2012 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which results were released on August 10, only 38.83 per cent of the candidates made five credits in English Language, Mathematics and five other subjects – the benchmark for entry into tertiary institutions. Last year, the figure was 30.90 and 2010, 23.71 per cent.
Over time, policy makers have blamed pupils’ poor performance on dearth of quality teachers
At the 81st anniversary of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Abuja on July 10, the Education Minister, Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufa’i, said the Federal Government was working on measures to address the problem.
She said: “Over the years, Nigeria has experienced mass failure in external examinations. The poor quality of educational outcome in recent years is attributable to poor quality of teachers, among others. The Federal Government in an attempt to address this problem is leaving no stone unturned at ensuring quality teacher education and development. This is expected to translate to higher students’ achievement and overall educational growth.”
Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a keynote speech at the Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMOF) Lecture, listed poor quality teachers as a reason the education system is in a shamble.
She said: “The dearth of qualified teachers is a major issue affecting the quality of our education system. The teaching profession is no longer held in high esteem – a major departure from my school days – and teachers’ pay is considerably low, so relatively low-achieving students often enter colleges of education, according to our Federal Ministry of Education. Overall, an estimated 57 per cent of primary school teachers are not fully qualified, according to a recent World Bank report.”
Apparently to address the problem, some states have, in the past five years, initiated programmes to enhance teachers’ quality. The most controversial of such measures is the assessment tests for teachers. The exercise has pitched teachers against their governments. They do not also agree that they are the sole reason for students’ failure.
In 2008, Kwara State tested 19,125 teachers in Primary Four Mathematics when the present Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdulahi, was the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology. The exercise raised a lot of dust in its wake. Only seven teachers attained the minimum benchmark for the test in Mathematics. Only one of the 2,628 teachers with degrees passed the test; 10 graduates scored zero. The literacy assessment recorded only 1.2 per cent pass.
So far, the Ekiti State government has not been able to conduct similar tests for 16,000 primary and secondary school teachers under its Teachers Development Needs Assessment (TDNA) because of the teachers’protest.They have rebuffed entreaties by the Education Commissioner, Dr Eniola Ajayi, that the tests would not be a factor in their promotion or retrenchment.
“All over the world, if you fail an assessment, you are given a chance to do it all over again and again. If you have failed it three times in a row, you will tell us what you think we should do. On this first occasion, we cannot tell the teachers to go away, nobody does that, we all have children. If they fail the first time they re-take, if they fail the second time, they re-take, but if they fail the third time, then they will tell you to go and learn something,” she told reporters in Lagos.
The tests did not hold on June 4 as scheduled. The teachers, acting on NUT platform boycotted most of the 39 test centres across the state, leaving invigilators, security agents and consultants from various universities waiting endlessly.
Governor Kayode Fayemi and others accused them of sabotaging government’s efforts to sanitise the education system.After meeting with the national leadership of NUT, the governor said the teachers had agreed to write the tests, though a new date has not been fixed
The Ekiti teachers are not happy with the NUT leadership for making such commitment on their behalf. They opposed the national body, which they said never consulted them before accepting a decision they “see as a matter of life and death.”
A teacher at Emmanuel Anglican Primary School, Okesa, Ado-Ekiti, said her only reason for rejecting the test is that “government is actually planning to sack some of us, adding: “We don’t know government’s intention now. Principals who sat for it earlier are now regretting it.”
Another one said: “We will sit for the test if we are clear regarding the intentions of government. No one fears tests. We also test our pupils. But, really no one can be sure about the real intentions of government. That’s why we don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
The Ekiti State chapter of the National Parent-Teacher Association (NAPTAN) is on the teachers’ side. The association said government should reconsider its insistence that teachers must write the test, adding that the attempt to enforce it might end up disrupting academic activities.
At a meeting in Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Ado-Ekiti, NAPTAN accused the “government of taking such a serious decision without first consulting with other stakeholders; especially the PTA.”
In a communique jointly signed by its Chairman, Pastor Sunday Isikalu; Secretary, Mr Biodun Famoroti and Public Relations Officer, Mr Oke Gbenga, the association warned that the issue might assume worrisome dimension if not carefully handled.
NAPTAN advised the government to organise seminars, workshops for teachers to sharpen their skills as an alternative to the test, adding: “Instead of TDNA, promotional examination should be encouraged for whoever is due for promotion. The government should not have taken such decision without consulting with NAPTAN.”
For the Bayelsa State government, it is either the teachers write the test or they get the best. Governor Seriake Dickson did not mince words when he said primary school and head teachers must pass the tests they will take after a training programme or be sacked.
He said: “The exercise is part of government’s plan to make drastic changes in the education sector in line with its free and compulsory education policy. A total of 5,119 teachers and 541 headmasters from public primary schools in the state are expected to be trained, retrained and be tested on the skills acquired at the end of the exercise.”
But, the NUT is against sacking any teacher that fails.
Its Chairman, Comrade Ogola Brandla said: “Teachers are to be subjected to normal training and re-training or workshops and evaluations to be conducted as usual after such programme – though the union has told the governor to only retrain teachers and the word sack should not be there.
“Normally after training, workshop evaluation is conducted as an assessment to ascertain the level of understanding and that is not a true test.”
Besides governments, some academics also agree that teachers must be tested to certify them fit for the classroom.
In an interview with The Nation, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof Muhammad Junaid, said results of assessment tests could be put to many uses.
“The test is important as the teachers assess their students. Through such tests, you will know competent teachers who are doing outstanding work in their schools. It can also be to justify their qualifications, as well to lay off workers, whose employers consider incompetent on the job. It can also be used to detect their areas of deficiency for purpose of trainings and capacity development. When a time comes to reward good service, the results of the assessment can be one of the yardsticks. So, we also need to tie good performance to good pay.”
Former National Universities Commission (NUC) Secretary Prof Peter Okebukola while speaking at the Speech Day, Prize-Giving and Valedictory Service Ceremony of King’s College, Lagos last month said: “For federal schools, all teachers, indeed all education officers, should be subjected to a comprehensive standardised test, not the type for promotion examination of the Federal Civil Service Commission but a test of knowledge of subject matter and ability to innovate and be creative in class.
All those who fail such tests should be weeded out of classrooms and “weeded in” to other departments in the Federal Ministry of Education. In state schools, the same treatment should be applied. If the Kwara State example of 2008 is indicative of the national picture, not less than 20 per cent of the teachers will fail the test. To make up for the shortfall, we should undertake fresh recruitment of young and vibrant teachers who are up-to-date in the knowledge of their teaching subjects and competent in the use of ICT to deliver exciting lessons to students.”
Not all teachers agree that assessment tests are evil though.
Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Kwara State, Comrade Faruk Akanbi, said the teachers test carried out by the then Bukola Saraki administration assisted in making a distinction between certificate and competence.
Akanbi, who was the NUT chair then, added that the test made the government to discover quality teachers who could train others.
He said: “The test also led to the reorganisation of the state College of Education, Oro in Irepodun Local Government Area into College of Primary Studies. We equally realised that the teachers being churned out did no function effectively in their assigned duties. We were equally able to identify teachers that were outstanding and they were made to train to train mentor teachers.
“The test has assisted us to strengthen the quality assurance bureau through which we were able to harmonise the monitoring and supervision by SUBEB and local government education area.
“There were better roles designed for the supervisors which became hierarchical in nature and better.”
A teacher (names withheld) at Ojodu Abiodun Community High School, Berger, Lagos said teachers were more concerned about the pay than teaching.
“I think assessment tests are needed seriously. I don’t mean to be biased but I think some teachers are incompetent. Government needs to conduct the tests. Many of the teachers are mostly concerned about their salaries. They are not concerned about their impact on the students,” he said.
However, another teacher who teaches at Speedway College, Ojodu, Lagos said before insisting on tests, teachers must be trained first.
“Before government assesses teachers, they should send them on training first because teachers teach with materials. You can send them on training and assess them based on the training. After all, teachers teach their students before conducting tests for them,” she said.
