By Dayo Adesulu
Having compared and contrasted the academic performances of students’ WAEC and NECO results at St. Francis Catholic Secondary School, Idimu in the past two years of partial boarding system with the other three years of non-boarding, the school Administrator, Rev Fr Emmanuel Ugwejeh has said that the academic performance of the students were excellence.

Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of the female hostel last Saturday, the Clergy maintained that having experimented three months boarding for the graduated SS3 students, he make bold to say that their academic performances surpassed their predecessors who were without the opportunity.

Analyzing the performances of the students based on their WAEC results in the past two years, Ugwejeh noted that in 2006, the total percentage of students in St Francis who scored credit and distinction in WAEC were 73 percent. In 2007 it rose to 74 percent.

Year 2008, it moved to 78 percent,  while in 2009 when the school started the partial boarding it jumped to 83 percent and in year 2010, it was 93 percent. This according to the Administrator was due to the impact of the boarding school on the student adding that the system created a maximum opportunity for students to concentrate on their studies without distractions.

“Three out of those students who scored 7As are presently on America list for scholarships to study abroad, he said.

Also speaking, the Vice Chairman, PTA, Mr Charles Metu solicited the support of parents and individuals who are willing to support the building of the hostels to kindly do so in the interest of our education sector, stressing that great things starts with a beginning.

Moreover, as a beneficiary of boarding school, he reiterated that the school cannot do it alone without the financial assistance from parents noting that even parents have great problem controlling their children at home.

He pointed out that taking account of the money spent on transport to and from school for each student per term, little will parent add to give them qualitative boarding education

Speaking on behalf of the students, Miss Owa Funsho, Assistant Head Girl gave reasons why parents should work toward actualizing the boarding system for their children. She pointed out that as day students, it is difficult to find time to study at home stressing that it becomes  extremely difficult to study after the hassles of the day as students struggle to commute back and forth from home.

Funsho said that most students living afar usually get home at about 7pm. With the stress and hassles they encounter on the way, they are usually very tired. Nonetheless, she added that such tiredness cannot excuse them from house-cores including washing their uniforms, cooking, cleaning the house, running errands for their parents and taking care of their younger ones.

According to Funsho, by the time such student finish all these, he can barely keep his eyes open with sleep due to tiredness as studying becomes difficult.

Using herself as example, Funsho said that there are other distractions that she has to deal with at home. “I have to deal with captivating Soap Operas that are unending. As a teenager, the temptations from television programmes and video games are enormous and irresistible.

I have tried to follow the pieces of advice from my teachers by making a study time·table for myself but has not helped much because routine is difficult to establish as my schedule is easily disrupted,” she said.

She noted that she has seen the results of her  predecessors who boarded for just three months and did so well that the American Embassy is working on their scholarship, adding that more students would have done better if they had stayed longer in the boarding house.

Continuing, she said: “One of us here left school at about 6:30PM recently. He had stayed back in the school to catch up on some assignments and study since he did not have time to do that at home. He trekked to Isheri roundabout and took a bus going to Egbeda.

But the bus he took broke down at Pipeline bus stop. As is usually the case in Lagos, everyone in the bus was asked to alight while the driver tried to repair the bus. It took the driver about thirty-minutes to get the vehicle moving again. Again, at Carwash Bus-stop, the bus got stuck in the evening traffic.

My classmate finally made it to his house in Egbeda at 9pm totally exhausted and angry.