The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NECO

  • ‘Excellence is our second nature’

    ‘Excellence is our second nature’

    MS Theresa Amadi, a Grade Five (Primary five) teacher at Christ The Cornerstone (CTC), School, Ikeja, took a look at the mathematics question of the 2013 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) and thought, “my pupils can handle this.”

    Not long afterwards, she had the chance to test her hypothesis. She had to fill in for a teacher in another grade, so to keep her pupils busy she gave them the 60 objective questions that JSS3 pupils took last month to qualify for senior secondary education, to solve.

    The result: one pupil, Onyekachukwu Mbamalu, scored 54 out of 60. On the average, the others scored 50 per cent.

    “I gave my class the NECO 2013 Basic Education mathematics examination questions and Kachi Mbamalu scored 90 per cent. I got the questions from my sister who teachers in a secondary school. When I looked through them, I found that we have treated most of the topics so I decided to give them the questions,” she told The Nation.

    Ms Amadi also tried the same experiment with Grade (Primary) Four pupils, giving them only 20 questions to answer. Toluwalase Shonde got 17 correct. On the average, she sad the pupils scored up to 70 per cent.

    Proprietor of the school, Mrs Abimbola Fisayo, was not surprised by the pupils’ performance. When asked about it, she said an average pupil of the school is groomed to excel as special attention is paid to recruit teachers who know their onions. She said her recruitment method has not failed since the school started 20 years ago.

    She said: “Before a teacher is employed I personally interview that peson through four stages. You must write a 1,000-word essay on the state of education in Nigeria in 40 minutes – that is the only topic I have used for 18 years. I am looking for ability to obey laws in English language grammar; can they articulate their thoughts? What are your analytical and logical thinking skills? An essay will tell me all of that.

    “Then when you have proven your point, I give you a sheet of paper and I tell you pick any topic you want to teach and write me lesson note with no text books because I believe if you know your onions so well you don’t need your text books. After they have written the note and I go through and I see it is okay, I pick the note from them and put them in front of a live classroom to teach. I am looking for class control, knowledge of subject matter, ability to deliver.”

    Mrs Fisayo added that when employed, the teachers are paid to ensure that the pupils actually learn, making it unnecessary for their parents to need lesson tutors.

    “I believe in excellence and I believe people must go above and beyond the call of duty because we teach topics in a way pupils grab well. And because we believe in individualised attention for every pupil, these children will do well. We help them to manage their time. If you can’t manage your time successfully then you are not going to succeed in what you are doing. CTC children have no lesson teachers, if you have a lesson teacher in CTC and we know we can expel you for it because we believe that the parents have paid us to do this job and they should leave us to do it,” she said.

    As the school prepares to test potential pupils during its entrance examination on Saturday as well as in September, Mrs Fisayo said the focus is not on the brilliant but to seek gaps in their knowledge that can be filled when the pupils are admitted. That, she noted is the reason the average pupils excels in her school.

    “If your child does not pass our exam it does not mean you do not get in; it means that we know where to start the work. The exam is not an exam to disqualify; it is an exam to help us know how to help your child. So, if a child takes our exam and fails we analyse the failure, so we know that even if we admit that child we must do special work to bring that child that back to track. And it does not take too long it; it just takes effort,” she said.

  • When NECO came short in integrity test

    SIR: Examination bodies of worth always contract a group of seasoned teachers, and, or subject specialists within the academic or educational sectors to write items for immediate or future use for the examinations that they (the bodies) organise and administer. By extension, they are obligated to draft (with reference to our national and sub-regional scopes and with the highest regard for confidentiality) the questions for prospective examination candidates. This rigorous academic and professional activity is expected to pass through a quality control process of phrasing, editing, vetting, re-drafting, approval, and archiving. Somehow, a pre-testing of the items might be required for the purpose of standardisation. This process serves an important purpose: errors are detected and corrected before the administration of the said items.

    In Section IV, the NECO June 2013 Literature in English Paper II booklet contained this as its 11th question: Explain the use of repetition as it is used to build the theme of John Donne’s ‘The Soul’s Errand’.

    To the reader who might not be a literary person or might not be familiar with the pattern of examining, the literature papers have I, II, and III respectively. Paper I tests the literary skills, unseen texts, and Shakespeare using the multiple choice objective pattern. Paper II tests drama and poetry, and paper III tests the prose titles. The ‘question’ above was set in paper II and it carried a misleading referencing: the quoted poet did NOT write that poem! (The subtle tautology in the structure of the said question is even more worrisome: …the use of repetition as it is used…)

    John Donne, the English 16th century metaphysical poet, wrote ‘The Sun Rising’ and not ‘The Soul’s Errand’!

    Obviously the item writers and whosoever has the statutory responsibility within NECO to oversee the vetting of (Literature in English) questions have done a ‘good’ job of overlooking two vital elements: the referencing and the structure. Could the number of candidates who got confused in the examination be quantified?

    Could the question of the NECO corporate image be rectified? Would the confused candidate be liable for this error? Could a poor grade or outright ‘failure’ in that paper be modified? (That question alone carried 30 marks!) Within academia, could the embarrassment this misadventure might cause be measured? Are these items standardised or worthy of being re-tested by teachers across the nation, and beyond the Nigerian waters? Won’t many other prospective candidates be further misled because it is the practice in many schools that teachers rely on ‘past questions’ for their internal assessments? This calls for a re-think.

    The other matters centre on NECO and public (dis)trust, depending on the perception one takes. If we limit ourselves to item writing for examinations alone, the language and literature backgrounds of any seasoned teachers would have given them the opportunity to compare the phrasing and content (task achievement and response) of test items prepared by similar bodies across the world. It is in the interest of the NECO’s corporate governance and image to attain this level of social service and public trust. It is also in their interest that experienced item writers, examiners, and sundry employees involved with examinations are recruited and remunerated well and promptly.

    • Adeodu Aanuoluwapo

    Abuja.

  • NECO seeks support to reposition

    Now that the National Examinations Council (NECO) is not among the parastatals to be scrapped by the Federal Government, stakeholders have recommended ways to reposition the body for greater effectiveness.

    Participants who attended a stakeholders’ forum organised by the council for the Southwest zone in Lagos last Friday suggested that leveraging on technology to ease the conduct of examinations; improving the integrity of the examinations by checking malpractices; involving stakeholders in its quality drive as some of the steps that would help transform the agency into a world-class examining body.

    Leading the call for transformation was Chairman, House Committee on Education, Hon Aminu Suleiman who said the Council should aim to add value in line with the theme of the forum tagged: “Repositioning NECO for more effective service delivery: A collective task.”

    He said: “NECO is a national pride of the country with huge nationalistic benefits. I sincerely believe that efforts should be intensified by the government and other stakeholders to reposition the council for optimum performance, because the issue is really not in the number but the value addition and service delivery.”

    Chairman of NECO’s Governing Board, Dr Paddy Njoku, said the forum was organised to seek ways to inject vigour into the council’s activities. He listed some of the council’s challenges with the hope of finding solutions to them.

    “I am gladdened by this unique opportunity to set the ball rolling in our collective quest towards generating solutions to the challenges afflicting the maximum goal attainment of our council. The challenges include: logistic and examination materials supply chain; ICT development; infrastructure and facilities management; human capacity; exam malpractices and fraud; and capital funding,” he said.

    Tackling the theme in his address, the lead paper presenter and Vice-Chancellor, Sokoto State University, Prof Nuhu Yaqub, praised NECO’s achievement since inception, especially in the timely release of results and adequate monitoring of the examination.

    However, he urged the council to be at the vanguard of moral rejuvenation of the society so as to restore the integrity of public examinations.

    “If we do not tackle this most fundamental issue, we may install the best technology to handle our examinations, it is we the morally bankrupt people that will turn around at the next corner to compromise the ideals we set out to achieve,” he said.

    Discussing the topic further, Prof Pai Obanya said when examinations are regarded as a part of the process to determine how much students have learnt, what knowledge gaps they have and how they can be addressed through targeted expenditure and responsive pedagogy, and not just for certification, then passing will not be a do-or-die affair.

    “Exams must die the way we see them in Nigeria. Exam the way it should be is to enrich your system for better performance. It should stimulate you enrich your curriculum, respond to the individual needs of learners, and help target expenditure to areas of needs,” he said.

    Another speaker, Dr Chigbo Okolie, recommended that NECO improves its ICT infrastructure to enable it deploy exam questions online rather than distribute hard copy materials from place to place.

    He added that NECO should explore ways of gaining the loyalty of Nigerian families, perhaps by introducing awards for the best candidates in its Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), instituting clubs for best candidates from each state and giving scholarships to the best in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) that is written by JSS3 pupils for their senior secondary education.

    “NECO needs to do something new, something populist to attract the attention of families. For instance, the council could invite the best candidates to the NECO headquarters in Minna as part of the prize for excelling in the examination,” he said.

    Other participants that made contributions at the event included representatives of the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), All Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), representatives of state ministries of education, and teachers and pupils of select secondary schools.

     

  • Wike to open NECO stakeholders’ forum

    Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike will on Friday declare open a Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the National Examinations Council (NECO) for the Southwest Zone in Lagos.

    The theme of the Forum, “Repositioning NECO for more Effective Service Delivery: A Collective Approach” is aimed at involving stakeholders in the task of taking the council to the next level.

    Chairman, NECO Governing Board, Dr Paddy Njoku, in an interview said stakeholders expected at the forum include all the Southwest Governors and their Commissioners for Education, the National and Southwest Chairmen of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), as well as the National Parents Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN).

    Others include the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), secondary school principals under the umbrella of the All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) and pupils, particularly those in SS 2.

    Njoku further disclosed that NECO Registrar, Prof Promise Nwachukwu Okpala, Prof Pai Obanya and Prof Nuhu Yakub are among the eminent scholars speaking at the event.

  • ‘Bad society makes for mass failure’ 

    Prevalent vice in today’s society is part of the reasons for mass failure in schools, Chairman, Governing Council of the National Examination Council (NECO), Dr. Paddy Njoku, has said.

    While supervising the National Examination Council (NECO) examination which began in Abuja last week, he said the students have been distracted by the various crisis and negative reports in the society.

    He blamed parents and every other stakeholder in the education sector for the mass failure as they have not created a good society for the children to live in.

    While addressing the candidates, Njoku urged them to shun every form of malpractices because it will not bring the best out of them but make them corrupt leaders in the future.

  • Why NECO, not JAMB, should go

    Why NECO, not JAMB, should go

    SIR: A recent survey by a national newspaper featured the view of a cross section of Nigerians. The respondents had been asked to comment on the federal government’s rumoured plan to scrap the National Examination Council (NECO) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), along with many other federal agencies.

    “NECO should be scrapped” snapped one of the respondents. “There is no point using the same mode of examination to test the ability of students, when one of them (GCE, WAEC, and NECO) will do for the same purpose. UTME (conducted by JAMB) should be allowed to stay for testing academic ability”

    Another respondent was no less blunt. “UTME should be left alone”. “The only thing is for the system to be restructured so that when you do well in JAMB, schools will be the ones sending letters of admission to the students. NECO is not necessary. It is a distraction”.

    It is against this backdrop that this writer, like millions of other compatriots out there, strongly feel that the authorities concerned must think deeply before deciding on which national examination body to abolish. Deep, discerning thinking or reasoning is crucial, given our tendency to coat every issue “with so much emotion,” as Dan Agbese’s eloquently stated in NEWSWATCH magazine of September 21, 1987.

    NECO, to be sure, has its advantage. At its conception many Nigerians had reasoned that since the West African Examination Council, WAEC already performs similar functions as NECO, there was no need to establish a new body that would essentially duplicate WAEC’s roles. Even though NECO has benefited a generation of Nigerians in sundry ways since its creation, the fact still remains that it more or less duplicates WAEC’s roles.

    That, however, is a matter for discussion another day. Our primary concern here, like that of the respondents quoted earlier, is the need for officialdom to be cautious vis-a-vis the alleged plan to scrap JAMB or UTME in favour of NECO. Abolishing JAMB, so the argument goes, would let universities admit candidates of their choice directly, apparently using the students’ performance in NECO as a basis.

    Granted, that argument has some basis, but I sincerely believe that this argument raises more posers than it answers. It is like contending, for example, that because we can transact business online, the Naira or Dollar should be abolished. Buying and selling online (and, by extension, making electronic payment) may be beneficial in countless ways, but, pray, does that justify the need to abolish the Naira as a legal tender?

    JAMB, as an institution, is certainly not perfect. Its limitations are well documented. But as even its most unfair critic would concede, this good old examination body has been performing fairly well in recent times, particularly since the advent of electronic mail. For instance, its hitherto cumbersome registration process has been comparatively simplified. Hitherto, checking results had been a nightmare to students, but with the introduction of e – mail, all that has now become history.

    JAMB has despite its limitations, played veritably important, nay significant, roles in the lives of generations of Nigerian students. Scrapping it in one fell swoop would, in my view, amount to throwing away the baby with the bath water. Neither emotion nor ego should be allowed to stampede the authorities concerned into abolishing JAMB. Instead, NECO should go.

    • Macekho Chukwuma

    Lagos.

     

  • Ekwunife: don’t scrap NECO

    A member of the House of Representatives representing Anaocha/Dunukofia/Njikoka federal constituency of Anambra State, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife has cautioned the Federal Government against scrapping the National Examination Council (NECO).

    Mrs Ekwunife said the threat by the federal government to scrap the examining body would be counterproductive. She added that the country does not need to scrap the examination body but strengthen it to yield results.

    She blamed poor and low standard of education on lack of proper training of teachers and called for re-introduction of regular tests for students.

    “NECO is not the cause of low standard education and I want to advise the Federal Government against scraping it. It is our only examination body and they should also know that WAEC headquarters is in Ghana and most at times one has to wait for years in case of correction of error in one’s name.

    “I don’t subscribe to the scraping of NECO because it is one of the most credible examination bodies we have in the country. What we must do is to return to constant examination on weekly, monthly and termly basis because students show more seriousness in examination and not continued assessment,” she said.

     

  • Why scrap NECO, UTME?

    Why scrap NECO, UTME?

    SIR: There have been reports of plans by the Federal Government to scrap, merge or reverse some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). To go are 14-year-old National Examinations Council (NECO), the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the 37-year-old Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    The development is said to be sequel to the recommendations in the White Paper submitted to the Presidency by the Stephen Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies..

    Quite understandable is the committee’s thought that it is time we reduced wastage caused by overlapping and duplicated functions of our ministries, departments and agencies. Oronsaye and his cohorts put the figure to be saved at about 853 billion naira between 2012 and 2015.

    The committee’s recommendation that NECO and UTME be scrapped is akin to cutting the head as an antidote for headache. At its arrival, NECO attracted praises from those who thought it would widen the choices candidates would make as to which examinations to sit in a nation long dominated by the regional West African Examinations Council (WAEC). NECO has since conducted the Senior School Certificate Examinations for which it has been issuing certificates to candidates. JAMB’s UTME had remained the only pathway to Nigerian universities until some varsities began to conduct post-UTME for admission seekers.

    Should NECO cease to be, WAEC will return as a monopoly; this will signify motion without movement. If we scrap UTME, universities will get full powers to conduct their entrance examinations with likely tendency of abuse of such freedom. The government should be wary of giving universities that have not been able to manage their finances efficiently the sole responsibility of handling admissions. Government should be mindful of the likelihood of students who do not have influential persons to pull strings for them lose out of what may become a ‘rat race’. If they do, they will end up not gaining admission to study in our universities. Then, we are back right where we are trying to depart from.

    In addition, applicants will have to criss-cross the nation in a bid to write examinations, thus being vulnerable to all manners of dangers ranging from kidnapping to road crashes. The current style that lets candidates write UTME where they please is a good one; the government should be wise enough to know.

    In all of this, the Federal Government has failed to admit that corruption – a vice it has done little or nothing to stamp out – is a crucial factor responsible for the poor management and non-performance of several of its moribund agencies. It illogically shifts the blame to some other factors such as ‘evil forces’. By planning to scrap NECO and UTME and sell such national heritage as the National Theatre in Lagos for the flimsy reason of poor management, government is not being sincere. Thus, it has successfully told the nation that effectively managing national institutions is only achievable by scrapping or selling them.

    The same government established new universities when it could barely fund existing ones. It has not chosen to scrap any. It is building a new Vice-Presidential residence when there is already a befitting one for the nation’s number two citizen.

    Rather than scrapping NECO and UTME, we believe government can explore other avenues to improving things. If truly the FG is not afraid of facing tough challenges, a good way of handling NECO, UTME, and other ‘going’ MDAs is to overhaul them.

     

    • Agboola Odesanya,

    Department of Mass Communication,

    University of Lagos, Akoka

     

  • JAMB, NECO won’t be scrapped, says Presidency

    THE Federal Government has said it will not scrap the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) as well as the National Examinations Council (NECO).

    The Presidency said yesterday the government would not scrap the examination bodies.

    The Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’I, is expected to announce the government’s position before next Monday.

    The Presidency’s clarification on the examination bodies was announced by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Youth and Student Matters, Comrade Jude Imagwe.

    The President’s aide spoke at the annual two-day workshop at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State, with the theme: Improved Teaching and Learning Methods in Higher Education System.

    Imagwe, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at the event, explained that the Federal Government was studying the White Paper submitted by the Steve Oronsaye-led committee.

    He said the Presidency, on Monday, convened a special meeting, comprising vice-chancellors from public and private universities, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as well as some top government functionaries and took the decision.

    The President’s aide said because both bodies are government’s babies, the government would nurture them to maturity rather than scrap them.

    According to him, since NECO and JAMB were established through an Act, it would be wrong of the government to scrap them without recourse to the laws that set them up.

    Imagwe accused the media of pre-empting the government by making the announcement before the government.

    He said: “There is a panel that was constituted by the government to look into the White Paper that was presented to the Federal Government.

    When White Papers are presented, they are mere recommendations. When the government studies it, it comes out with its own positions. But there was a misrepresentation in the media that the government had concluded plans to scrap NECO and JAMB.

    “Just on Monday, we had a meeting on this same issue. The President of NANS and his Secretary were there. Vice-chancellors of some private and public universities were also represented. I can tell you categorically that a position is going to be made public soonest. The Minister (of Education) will address the public on government’s final position before Monday. We must remember that these are organs enacted by an Act. So, it is not that the government will just wake up one day and scrap them…”

  • Beyond scrapping UTME and NECO

    Beyond scrapping UTME and NECO

    What does the future hold for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examinations Council (NECO)? A presidential panel led by former Head of Service, Mr Stephen Oronsaye has suggested that both bodies be scrapped. For JAMB, the committee advised a modification of functions: it should no longer conduct the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME); rather, it should coordinate the admissions window for tertiary institutions as they choose their students so they know which ones already have admissions.

    We do not know their specific recommendation about NECO. The story we are all relying on published in the dailies last week quoted an unnamed source who did not give details about NECO.

    We know the Federal Government has debunked plans to scrap the bodies but whatever it decides to do with the two examining bodies, it should take into critical consideration the peculiar issues that define the Nigerian education system and our socio-economic challenges.

    Every year, millions of candidates write both examinations to earn ‘O’ Level qualifications and entrance points needed to gain entry into tertiary education. With the UTME costing an average of N5,000, it is quite an enormous amount that is not easy for the average Nigerian to cough out without prior planning. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that because a candidate spent the money, they would pass, and if they pass, they would be admitted. The competition is stiff – not because all the institutions have very high benchmark scores for their programmes, but because even if all of them were to admit qualified candidates, hundreds of thousands would still be without a space to study.

    What we need at this point is a system that does not task candidates and their sponsors unduly. There are many candidates who are frustrated having tried over and over again to gain admission into the tertiary institution. Their sponsors have lost confidence in them so they are forced to sponsor themselves. It is a good sign that we have many youths hungry for knowledge. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that they are directed to areas where their talents will be best harnessed for the good of the society. The present survival-of-the-fittest situation is not good and should be corrected.

    It does not necessarily mean that the UTME has to be scrapped to correct it. The examination could be modified. For instance, it could hold more than once in a year and have a longer life line – like two years as already been proposed.

    If the UTME is scrapped and tertiary institutions conduct their own examinations, how easy will it be for candidates to travel all over writing various examinations? Will it be more expensive than the present situation, where candidates pay for the UTME, result-checking scratch cards to get their results and afterwards pay post-UTME screenings fees of the institutions they chose if they passed? Will there be need for the institutions to set a timetable to avoid clashes that could reduce the chances of candidates if two institutions conduct their screening same day? All these questions should be answered with the aim of providing the candidates, our youths, with the best possible chance to develop themselves. It should not be our pride that things are extremely difficult. It does not pay us to have many young people idle, struggling to get trained, acquire skills and get jobs. The more people we can educate and empower, the better.

     

    Pregnant babies

    This week, the papers seem to be dominated by news of people selling babies for the wrong reasons. I first read of a man who sold his son to get a visa, then of two women who connived with nurses and sold their babies after delivery. But they did not move me like the story of a woman who ran a home where teenage girls bred babies for sale. She housed them, got men to impregnate them, then after delivery, sold the babies and gave them a percentage of the money.

    When I read the story, I wondered how girls could just exist to be breeding machines. Is pregnancy so easy to carry to term? But it is easy for teenagers to fall victim of such evil people because they are at a stage when they are not supposed to be pregnant. They would naturally not get the support of their families, or worse, the father of their babies, and, they would not have the financial muscle to fend for themselves and their babies. This makes them vulnerable.

    My advice to teenage girls is that they should be focused on their studies and empowerment for now. Parents and schools need to invest extra time and effort passing this message across so their future is not derailed.