The Nation Newspaper

Tag: WAEC

  • 59.22 percent pass WASSCE

    59.22 percent pass WASSCE

    …WAEC to conduct private candidate exam twice yearly

     

    Precisely 59.22 per cent of 1,559,192 candidates who wrote the May/June 2017 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) made credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.

    Announcing the results Monday at the WAEC headquarters in Lagos, the Head of National Office (HNO), Mr Olu Adenipekun, said the performance was a significant improvement compared to last year, which was 52.97 per cent and 2015, which was 38.68 per cent.

    “There has been a significant improvement and it is our hope that this will continue and not just be a fluke.  We hope schools will take advantage of this to prepare students better for the examination,” he said.

    The HNO also said the council would begin conducting examinations for private candidates twice in a year from next year.

    Adenipekun however said two categories of candidates will have to wait for some of their results either to be released or cancelled.  Candidates in the first group (95,734) has some of their results being processed because of errors traceable to them while 214,952 others are being investigated for involvement in examination malpractices.

    “The results of 214,952 candidates, representing 13.79 per cent of the total candidature for the examination are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice.  The cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the Council in due course for consideration.  The committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their schools,” he said.

    Adenipekun said WAEC was able to achieve its Project 60 target of releasing the result 60 days after the examination ended thanks to improved ICT facilities and training of its workers.  He added that the Council would work towards even earlier releases in future.

    “We came up with Project 60, a self-imposed time limit for candidates to wait for release of result after the examination.  We are hoping to be able to release the result even faster.  We are looking at 45 days next time,” he said.

    Regarding the conduct of two separate examinations for private candidates yearly, Adenipekun said the decision was taken at 65thAnnual Council Meeting of WAEC member countries in Abuja in March.

    “One of the major highlights of the outcomes of the meeting was the approval granted to member countries to conduct the WASSCE for private candidates, twice in a year.  I am happy to inform you that the Nigeria National Office of the Council has concluded arrangements to commence the conduct of the additional diet of the WASSCE for private candidates from January/February, 2018,” he said.

  • Ogun to stop paying WAEC fees

    Ogun State is no pushover among states in Nigeria that have produced great minds in education. Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka remains one of her living legends. However, the standard of education in the state in recent years has nosedived owing to social decadence among youths, corruption, and compromise of standards, among other factors. Last week, the Ogun State government held its maiden education summit that featured over 2000 participants, including teachers, parents, union leaders, educationists and other experts,  some of who gave various opinions on how Ogun could secure her right of place. AJOSE SEHINDEMI was there

    As from next year, the Ogun State government may put a stop to paying WAEC fees of students in the state.

    The government says it hinges its decision on the success of the 2016 National Examination Council (NECO) results, which ranked Ogun as outstanding among the 36 states nationwide, including FCT.

    This was contained in a 28-paragraph communiqué that climaxed the two-day maiden education summit which began on Monday, last week.

    However, participants urged government that money that will  accrue to the state from such action be rechanneled into other developmental needs.

    The over 2000 participants comprising educationists, technocrats, seasoned administrators, parents and unionists, argued that the ranking of the state in NECO shot up because parents, who had to part with their hard-earned naira,  monitored and  ensured that thier wards studied hard for the examination in order to justify the fees paid by them. This is the more reason why candidates did better in NECO as against WASSCE that government pays for.

    Participants also urged governments to henceforth redirect funds from theTertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) toward beneficial projects. This is in addition to digitalising education via ICT for teaching, learning, examination, reviews and other deliverables.

    “The government is also enjoined to set up Examination Ethics Group to monitor Computer Based Test (CBT) centres and other examination venues to ensure that all forms of sharp practices, irregularities and examination malpractices are eliminated,” participants stated in the communiqué.”

    At the summit, stakeholders were not happy that despite her enormous intellectual deposits Ogun ranked 19 out of the 36 states in the 2015 WASSCE. The scenario is further complicated by the sprawling 498,154 secondary school enrolment figure, spreading across 474 public secondary schools and 568 private secondary schools respectively, they said.

    According to information made available to reporters, Ogun State government in 2016 paid N489,792,695 as WAEC fees for the state’s 41,421 candidates.

    To address the shortfall therefore, the government was advised to introduce concepts like Opon Imo (digital learning tablet) to fast-track learning and cut cost. To make the opon imo optimally functional, experts admonished government to expand bandwidth for internet connectivity in schools.

    It was also agreed that competitive promotional test must be extended to all public secondary schools across the state in order to allow for a level playing- ground for all learners.

    Registrar, JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede who was one of the lead presenters, said he was not particularly excited that of the eight federal and state tertiary institutions domiciled in Ogun, only Tai Solarin University of Education, (TASUED) Ijagun was able to access N35 million of the  N1,459,521,658,00 TETFund’s National Research Fund allocated to 61 higher institutions across the nation between 2013 to 2016.

    Oloyede, who spoke on the topic: ‘Baseline and assessment: Improving Access, quality and equity in Tertiary Education in Ogun State’, noted that though TETFund gives fund to every tertiary institution, only institutions with quality and outstanding research takes pre-eminence over others.

    “Though TETFund has been the saving grace for virtually all government owned institutions in Nigeria, tertiary institutions in Ogun state need to do more to attract more funds for research as it is very competitive amongst all the tertiary institutions in the country, ” noted Oloyede, who was former vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin.

    On funding of education in Nigeria and Ogun State in particular, a senior lecturer at the Lagos Business School (Pan African University), Dr Doyin Salami, said governments across board have defaulted in meeting the 26 per cent of budgetary allocation recommended for developing countries by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO)

    Salami spoke on: ‘Funding vs results: A critical review’, saying though Ogun State budget to education currently stands at 20 per cent; yet it has not lived up to expectation in investing appropriately in learners at their formative years.

    “Though Ogun State budgeted 20 per cent for education, the early stages of learning between age one to six where children develop their cognitive skills are not catered for by all arms of government as the 6.3.3.4 (education model) is flawed right from the start,” Salami said.

    “Modern science has revealed that children developed their cognitive abilities between two to five which the6.3.3.4 doesn’t take into consideration and this means that we are already at a disadvantage right from the start,”, he added.

    Chairman Phillips Consulting limited Mr Foluso Phillips, harped on the urgency of deploying technology into the state’s school.

    “Technology should be quickly introduced to primary education so that it can be quickly grasped and understood,” Phillips recommended in his lecture themed: “Technology: A tool for Eeducation advancement”.

    Others papers presented include: ‘It’s possible: ‘The successful turnaround of a tertiary institution’; by the outgoing Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Prof. Saburi Adesanya; ‘Ogun standard education: The way forward’ by the Managing Director of Proshare Mr Olufemi Awoyemi ; and ‘Human capital: Classroom to boardroom’ by the Managing Director People Temp, Mrs Nike DeSouza, among many others.

     

  • WAEC launches interactive platform for candidates

    WAEC launches interactive platform for candidates

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it has launched a talk back platform, known as “WAECKonnect” to improve effective communication between the council and candidates.

    The organisation said this in a statement issued by its Head of Public Affairs, Mr Damianus Ojijeogu, on Thursday in Lagos.

    WAEC said it established the platform to further engage the candidates and bridge the communication gap between them and the council.

    “We are pleased to announce a new electronic information sharing and dissemination platform, called Candidates Interactive System or WAECkonnect.

    “This is to enable the council to communicate effectively with candidates during its examinations.

    “The council is determined to protect candidates from also falling prey to fraudulent persons, who might want to take advantage of parents and candidates’ ignorance about its operations, to misguide and defraud them,’’ the statement read in part.

    The platform will also allow WAEC to effectively engage the candidates before, during and after the registration and examinations.

    Ojijeogu stated that the platform would enable the council in Nigeria to disseminate information to the public effectively.

    “Notification of important information and changes regarding the past, present or future examinations of the council, examination date, time and venue will also be made available through the platform.

    “The platform will also provide an auto creation of unique email address for candidates for all interactions with WAEC.

    “It will also afford the candidates the opportunity to acquaint themselves with current technological tools that will be useful for them in the future.

    “It would also be used to publicise Nigeria Examinations Council (NEC) decision on results among other benefits.”

  • Edo IDPs: Dogara urged to fulfill promise on payment of WAEC fees  

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has been urged to fulfill the promise he made last year to pay examination fees for Internally Displaced Persons in Edo State.

    Dogara had in February 2017 promised to pay WAEC, NECO and JAMB examination fees from his personal resources to enable children in the IDPs camp get university education.

    He made the promise when he attended church service at the camp.

    Coordinator of the camp, Pastor Solomon Folorusho, told newsmen yesterday that Speaker Dogara was yet to fulfill the promises he made.

    Pastor Folorunsho disclosed that about 200 IDPs would write this year’s NECO and WAEC examinations.

    Folorunsho said 65 of the IDPs who attended secondary school at the camp are to write the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board examination this year.

    He said the IDPs have started farming for them not to completely depend on donation from people and complement whatever that is donated to the camp.

    “As the students are going to resume schools here, we have challenges of writing materials like notebooks, textbooks, mathematical sets calculators, pencils and biros among others.

    “We need those materials because 65 IDPS students are go to write JAMB while about 200 will write NECO and WASC this year. We need to prepare them for the examinations hence we called for financial assistance to see them through the examinations.

    “These children are Nigeria and we have to do every possible to make sure that they are educated though it is difficult for us. The state government has handed over blocks of classroom it built to us and Nigeria have been very generous to us in ensuring that the children actualise their dreams,” he said.

     

  • Prof reveals why students fail maths in WAEC, NECO

    Prof reveals why students fail maths in WAEC, NECO

    The Chief Executive Officer at the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Prof. Stephen Onah, has blamed dismal performance of students in WAEC and NECO examinations in successive years on unqualified teachers in Mathematics.

    Onah disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that school proprietors draft non-professional teachers into teaching senior secondary students Mathematics for such important examinations.

    According to him, another factor responsible for poor performance of Nigerian students in Mathematics is the high standards maintained by WAEC and NECO with unqualified mathematics teachers teaching the subject.

    “The other factor is that because there are no enough hands to train students in this discipline persons from different areas of study even outside science-based areas are brought to teach the subject.

    “Because the WAEC and NECO which are of international standard will not lower their standard because Nigeria has not enough hands or qualified teachers to train its students.

    “They will always maintain their standard and so if we are not living up to that standard, that explains our poor performances,’’ he said

    The professor held the view that when the number of teachers is not equal to that of the students’ population effective teaching becomes a problem.

    He called for an increase in the incentives given to mathematics teachers, saying lack of motivation for teachers in critical subjects such as Mathematics is very common in nation’s system of education.

    Onah lauded the efforts of the current government at improving the quality and methodology of teaching at the different strata of education in the country, especially primary and secondary schools.

    The professor noted that there has been an improvement in both quality and quantity of teachers in Mathematics in the past two years,  but said a lot more can be done to shore up students’ performances in WAEC and NECO.

    “This is because there is some recognition; the teachers are beginning to see that they are being recognised for their work and they are putting in their very best.

    “Again the centre in its own way has been putting up programmes to facilitate the teaching of mathematics,” he said.

    He said the centre had developed mathematics modules on how best the subject should be taught and learned and this would be used throughout primary and secondary schools in the country.

    “ We have also produced a good number of textbooks in their simplified form which, if used or recommended at both the primary and secondary levels the learning of the subject would be better than what it is now”, the professor said.

  • Fire guts WAEC office in Kaduna

    The West African Examinations Council, (WAEC), lost 10 computers holding vital records and information about all schools in the zone following an inferno that gutted part of its office in Kaduna on Tuesday morning.

    The Zonal Coordinator of WAEC in Kaduna, Fedelis Gaiya, said that the fire which occurred at about 9.50a.m. probably started from an electrical spark or fault.

    According to him, “We are running on generator. When they restored electricity, we saw smoke all over the place.

    “We are grateful that no life was lost because most of our staff members were out to their various examination centres.’’

    He explained that the incident would not affect the ongoing examination because the question papers were safe.

    He commended the Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Air Force, State University and State Fire Service for responding fast to the situation.

    He noted, “We are grateful to all the fire service departments that responded very fast to the situation. Otherwise, the damage would have been more than this.”

    Deputy Comptroller of Federal Fire Service, Thompson Mohammed, reiterated the need for fire extinguishers to be installed in offices to reduce the rate of damages caused by fire.

    He added, “I am sure if there were fire extinguishers here with trained men, the damage would have been minimal.”

    He urged them to liaise with the service to train their staff on how to operate fire extinguishers, adding that, “It is committed to discharging its duties effectively and promptly.”

  • Fire at WAEC office in Kaduna

    An early morning fire razed part of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) office in Kaduna on Tuesday.

    The examination body lost 10 computers and vital information about schools in the zone to the inferno.

    The Zonal Coordinator of WAEC in Kaduna, Fidelis Gaiya, said that the fire which started at 9:50 a.m. was caused by electrical spark.

    Gaiya said, “We are running on generator. When they restored electricity, we saw smoke all over the place.

    “We are grateful that no life was lost because most of our staff were out to their various examination centres.’’

    He said the incident would not affect the ongoing examination because the question papers were safe.

    The WAEC coordinator commended the Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Air Force, state University and State Fire Service for their quick response to the emergency.

    He added: “We are grateful to all the fire service departments that responded very fast to the situation. Otherwise, the damage would have been more than this.”

     

  • Institute wins WAEC’s top prize

    Institute wins WAEC’s top prize

    Like a star, Lumen Christi International High School, Uromi, Edo state shone brightest amongst its peers recently when it emerged the overall best performing school in the country.

    The school clinched the Augustus Bandele Oyediran trophy for producing the best overall results in the 2016 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

    The event coincided with WAEC’s 65th Annual Council meeting held in Abuja, which was declared open by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    In his opening remarks, Vice President Osinbajo harped on the state of education in the country and the need to redirect teaching methodology towards practical and practicable results.

    According to him, current method of teaching is defective as students lack capacity of critical thinking for solution to problems. As a result, he said it has become expedient for educators to break from the past by setting a moral and ethical standard to define success.

    The school emerged winner with best aggregate, determined on the results of best 50 candidates based on their grades in English Language, Mathematics and a Science subject.

    The school which has won the prestigious awards instituted in 1985 five times in a row was the cynosure of all eyes, as it entered the hall of fame like other past winners such as Queens College, Yaba and Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja.

    Since 1985, only 12 schools have won the award. Queens College, Yaba won the maiden edition and five consecutive times. Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja has also won it six times in a row.

    There were also awards for individual performance in the international, national and sub-regional categories. The first international award for 1985 examination was presented in Monrovia in 1986 where Nigeria took the maiden award with Ishola Adedapo taking the star prize. Since then the competition for top spots has always been between Nigeria and Ghana but Nigeria was dominant between 1999 and 2008. From 2008 Ghana took over the international category carting away the three top spots except in 2011 when Miss Adeloye Ope took the third position and the latest with Ayodeji Oluwafisayomi coming second.

    Upbeat, the Principal of Lumen Christi International High school, Very Rev. Fr. Dr. Theophilus Itaman said the feat achieved by his wards was through diligence and dedication to the vision and mission of the founding fathers of the school.

    He said: “We are not really surprised but we are extremely happy because this is an indication that the school is on course as far as its mission and vision. We are able to achieve this feat with the foundation of the school and the ‘Light of Jesus’ has made it possible to succeed in our set objectives.”

    Expatiating, the clergyman said, “We’re able to achieve this feat because we have a standard that is even above WAEC standard. We have now won this award for the fifth time, made possible by our standard which is such that every single student is strictly and personally monitored by the staff. It is such that when we discover that a child is not measuring up, we enroll such students into personalised special programmes to bring them up to their mates. What we don’t do is to compromise our teaching and training standards. At Lumen Christi, we don’t play with supervision, training and retraining of our teaching and non-teaching staff.”

    Fr. Itaman also decried examination malpractices that appear to be gaining ground as a trend to boost school ratings. He identified lack of confidence to succeed on the part of the school, teachers, students and parents as the factor that inspires malpractices in examination.

    “For parents and teachers to collude to encourage their children to cheat in examination can only be explained from the point of view of lack of confidence. If the parent believed that the child can excel in an examination, there will be no reason to approach a teacher to assist in that direction, if the parents and the teachers have put in their best for the child. In Lumen Christi, we believe that examination malpractice is more costly for the student, parents and the society at large and that is why we inculcate confidence to succeed in our students. That is why it should not be encouraged and we will always speak and act against it.”

    The highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of the trophy to Lumen Christy, which was received on behalf of the school’s management by Rev. Fr. Dr. Theophilos Itaman by Dr Bello Ahmed, member, WAEC, Endowment Fund Board of Trustees.

  • WAEC deregisters 12 schools in Kano, Jigawa

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has deregistered 12 schools in Kano and Jigawa states for their involvement in examination malpractice during the 2015/2016 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSSCE).

    WAEC Branch Comptroller for Kano/Jigawa zone Mr. Abayomi Zuberu, who made this known in Kano during the 65th anniversary of the body, said the schools were being punished for two years.

    According to him, 11 of the sanctioned schools were in Kano, while one was in Jigawa. He added that eight of them were private schools.

    He recalled that last year alone, 97 schools were given letters of serious warning, “due to complaints we received on their nefarious activities which encourage examination malpractice”.

    Zuberu added: “Examination malpractice has remained a source of distraction for WAEC with the spread of virulent rogue websites across the sub-region. The scourge of examination malpractice has persisted in all member-countries and the Council has continued to utilise every available means and opportunity to discourage die-hard perpetrators of the malaise.

    “We remain resolute on our stand to fight examination malpractice which has become a terrible menace. We are appealing to teachers and our students to stop examination malpractice.

    “Parents who encourage their children today to engage in examination fraud because they want them to be like others, are killing their tomorrow. We think we are helping them but in future, most of them will regret it.”

     

  • Nigerians celebrate people with questionable wealth – Buhari

    Nigerians celebrate people with questionable wealth – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said public servants and many in the private sectors who have questionable wealth are celebrated with alumni recognitions, honourary degrees, chieftaincy titles and sometimes higher religious titles in the country.

    He stated this during the 65th Annual Council Meeting of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Abuja.

    Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said Nigerians are no longer concerned about the process of attaining success because the end justifies the means for them.

    The President also said cheating in examination and attainment of fake certificates among Nigerians had become a normal thing because of collapse of values in the society.

    Such collapse in value, he explained, makes it difficult for policy makers to effect change in the society.

    He said: “Today the attainment of wealth, power or educational influence is the mark of success which is not necessarily a bad thing except we are no longer concerned with the process of attaining success.

    “The end it appears today justifies the means which explains why cheating in exams and fake certificates simply do not generate the sort of outrage that such conduct would have generated years ago.

    “Public servants and many in the private sectors who have unexplanable wealth are celebrated in one form or the other with alumni recognitions, honourary degrees, chieftaincy titles and even higher religious titles.

    “Often, cheating is with the collusion of parents and teachers. This only reflects the failure of values in our larger society.”