North-South divide gets wider in a broken educational system

For close to a decade now, there has been intense debate and doubts about the structure of Nigeria’s educational system: it’s one-sided impact and how it is perceived and transmitted.

A recent analysis of West Africa Examination Council results in the past decade seems to confirm the sloppiness of the system, after results comparisons showed a remarkable degree of backwardness in some parts of the country contrasted with good performance results in others.

The comparisons showed that for ten years running, Anambra State has been in the lead in the West African School Certificate examinations, with Yobe State being at the bottom.

The WAEC Results Comparisons’, indicates that while Anambra, Abia, Edo, Bayelsa and Rivers States have maintained sterling performance, states, such as Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe, Bauchi and Yobe continue to trail far behind, with Lagos State at the borderline.

The analysis also shows that Anambra ranked first in good performance, followed by Abia, Edo, Bayelsa and Rivers. Lagos ranked seventh, with Zamfara coming a distant 33rd; Kebbi, 34th; Gombe, 35th; Bauchi, 36th, and Yobe, 37th.

On the geo-political zone ranking in order of performance, South East has 64percent; South-South, 43percent; South West, 33percent; North West, 22percent; North Central, 22percent; North East, ravaged by the activities of Islamist sect, Boko Haram, ranked 10percent with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 31percent.

Stakeholders, who spoke with BD SUNDAY said since the results have consistently followed a particular pattern over time, government and education administrators in the country must take proactive measures to halt the ugly trend.

Gabriel Ugwuanyi, principal emeritus, Enugu State, said that many factors could be responsible for the result pattern, adding that all hands must be on deck to achieve the desired change.

“There are many factors that may give that result. You see, South East and South-South depend on education more than others. In Lagos, there are other alternatives. Somebody may drop out from school and still make a good living from other sources. In South East and South-South, if you don’t make a good grade in the university, for instance, if you get second class lower or pass, you are not likely to get a job, but there are places where all you need is just pass through a secondary school or mere going to a university, it does not matter the grade obtained at the end of the day, you can still get a job,” Ugwuanyi said.

The emeritus principal, who currently runs a school in Nsukka area of the state, suggested that since “government has seen that some states and regions have been consistent in poor performance, there should be a critical review of the system. For instance, you are aware that there is dichotomies in pass marks for different places in the country. Government can do an upward review what should be pass mark; this could help students from the so-called disadvantaged states to aspire more to pass.”

“Again, it is a wakeup call for inspectors and supervisors of education. They should start to ask questions. Teachers in states and regions where we have very poor results have to be challenged to emulate their peers in other places. There’s no magic about it. All stakeholders must take a hard look at the situation and take proper action,” he added.

Dauda Birma, a former minister of education in the Sani Abacha era, attributed the consistent poor performance of the North to late coming of education in that part of the country.

“Mark you, western education came to the south long time before it came to the North. It came to the south with Christianity and was well accepted. When it came to the North it was rejected. Up till now, Northern governors are still struggling to ensure the people accept education. You know also that that is one of the things the Boko Haram is fighting against. That shows the level of acceptance in that part of the country,” Birma said.

The former minister also blamed certain policies for the poor penetration of education in the North.

“A fundamental mistake was made in some of the policies pursued at some points. There’s no way you should expect same policy that works for states such as Edo, Delta, Abia, Anambra, Rivers, Imo to work for Zamfara, Yobe, Kebbi, Borno etc. Those states and regions that have advanced will continue to advance. That was what I wanted to address as the minister of education, but I did not have the time,” he said.

Ibidapo Obe, a professor and vice chancellor, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State, said: “This result is a cumulative effect of the country’s lack of attention to education. This outcome only goes to show you the negligence of the educational system in Nigeria on the part of government, parents and the administrators of education.”

“The blame for this mass failure should be placed on all stakeholders because we have not paid sufficient attention to education at all levels. We have not placed sufficient emphasis on education. If the energy government and its agencies spend sometimes in politics is focused on education, we won’t be where we are now,” Obe observed.

According to him, “The percent pass rate by implication shows that we are producing large band of illiterates that will lead to frustration which will in turn lead to instability. This is a very serious matter.

Education is a pivotal sector that should not be toyed with. We cannot continue to pass the buck or engage in blame game. It is high time we all collectively rise up to the challenge and address this problem holistically.”

“If this mass failure was recorded in a country like South Africa or any other serious-looking country, heads will roll, but nothing of such has ever happened in Nigeria,” he lamented.

Olaniyi Ojo, principal, Westerfield College Lagos, blamed the poor results on the influence of technology gadgets.

“These gadgets, which are supposed to aid learning, have rather influenced the students negatively by making them very lazy. Students now spend a sizeable amount of their time on these gadgets to the detriment of their studies,” Ojo pointed out.

“One thing we must know is that for any student to pass an exam, there are four things that must be present: There must be credible scheme of work also known as syllabus; there must a very good teacher; good textbooks and past question papers of the previous examinations. If all these things are present, then the students on their own must also play their part. This thing is like a tripod stand, the school will play its own part in terms of provision of adequate and good learning environment, the teachers would have to be trained and retrained so that they can give out current issue in that system of education. There is a saying that he who must continue to teach, must continue to learn. That is why teachers must continue to be trained and retrained. The students must also create time to study,” he further observed.

The principal also said: “Another disturbing trend now is the fact that parents are busy chasing money and no longer focus attention on their children, they rather abdicate the responsibility to the school thinking that it would solve the problem. On the part of government, they need to come up with policies that can help the education standard in the country. “Government needs to do something drastically. Our government is not helping the matter; the education ministry in the past would carry out inspection to schools which are very objective and not based on any reward. Because they knew lack of standard affects the sector. But today, the ministry hardly pays attention to inspectorate division.

“If government is just giving policy without extensive supervision, this is what is contributing to the decadence we are having right now in this pivotal sector.”

Zebulon Agomuo and Kelechi Ewuzie