By Dayo Adesulu

Head of the Nigeria National Office of West African Examinations Council,WAEC, Mr. Charles Eguridu has stated that making Mathematics a compulsory subject for students seeking admission in tertiary institutions is unfair, when the candidate’s course of study in the university has nothing to do with Mathematics.

Eguridu who made this statement against the backdrop of the 29.37 per cent WASSCE candidates who obtained five credits and above in Mathematics and English Language said: “It will be unfair to judge or determine students’ performance in examination based on Mathematics and English Language.”

Answering questions from journalists at WAEC corporate office, Yaba, Lagos after the release of results last Thursday Eguridu explained that as a student of Theatre Arts, you have no business learning quadratic equation. According to him; “Somebody who wants to read Yoruba in the university, and the institution is demanding for Mathematics is an issue because he does not need Mathematics to perform well in Yoruba. I do not think Mathematical ability is necessary for success in every endeavour of live.”

In all his years, he reiterated that, he is yet to see where mathematical ability is necessary in all areas of endeavour. ‘’Those who play football and can score goals, or those who can sing very well,  I am yet to see how passing Mathematics made them successful. For English Language, I agree because it is the means of communication, but for Maths, it should not compulsory for some studies,’’ he added.

The HNO who took a swipe at those condemning WAEC for mass failure based on Mathematics and English Language said: ‘’This is a private candidate exam. Preharps a candidate registers for Biology, Maths and English, if he does not write Maths and English and you use the population of those who wrote Maths and English to ascertain the percentage of success, the statistics will be incorrect.

“In a situation where a candidate registers for eight or nine subjects and you isolate two subjects to ascertain his overall performance, is unfair. The purpose of education is not to pass examination but to equip children for life.’’

Double registrations

Eguridu further maintained; “Nigerians need to go back and read the national policy on education. It is not envisaged that every child who entered primary school will end up a university professor. We expect that after the first six years of primary school, then the first three, senior high school. After this stage the results will determine the route such student will take, either to technical education, college of education, school of nursing, polytechnic or university.’’

On the drop of candidates that registered for the examination, Eguridu heaps the reasons on effiency of WAEC. He provided that WAEC has made it impossible for candidates to have double registrations. In the past, he pointed out, people asked candidates to register them in one centre and go to another centre to re-register. He insisted that with the introduction of biometric features, if you try to register twice, it will not be possible.

For those who criticized the walk in candidate initiative, Eguridu said: “Nigeria is not an island, it is a country that is advancing like other countries. In Singapore for example, people will write their exams when they are ready. A situation where a candidate needs a credit to advance in his studies and he has to wait for another one year cannot be justified. We have no apology for this, we have done it and we will do it again.

“If a candidate wants to register on the day of examination, we register him and ensure that the registration properly done. We will capture biometric details, exam fees will be paid and the candidate will be allowed to write with those who registered before.”

On the issue of wrong pictures of some candidates, Eguridu heaped the blame on school owners,explaining that WAEC’s registration portal has been designed in such a way that it works on information uploaded by schools into the server. That not withstanding, WAEC has to give them a second chance for the information to be uploaded correctly. However, from the next examination, he stated that WAEC’s upgraded systems will reject such flawed entries.

In spite of this facilities, some school authority do not take time to cross check the information uploaded to our data based.

His words: “If a school authority assignments a picture on wrong candidate, they should be held responsible. ‘’We have a situation where instead of uploading the candidate picture, they just put a flower pot. At times, one candidate’s picture will be dominant in the picture of some schools. Beginning from next examination, our upgraded system will reject such entries.’’