By DAUD OLATUNJI, Abeokuta

Mass failure in the country can be tackled through decongestion of classrooms and instilling discipline in teachers and students.

This was the submission of the Old Students’ Association of the African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta during an interaction with newsmen in Abeokuta, the state  capital.

The association which condemned a situation where 120 students would cram together in a classroom, however, linked the development to the mass failure witnessed recently in the state and beyond.

According to the National President of the association, Olubodun Oke, congestion of classrooms prompted the association to donate a block of eight classrooms to the state government.

It will be recalled that recently, mass failure was recorded in the country at the Senior Secondary Schools Certificate Examination as well as Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examination.

Oke, who blamed the poor performance of students in the examinations on the unconducive environment, however, lauded the Governor, who is a former student of the school, saying,” if you are not in a conducive environment, there is no way you can perform better.

“Chief Olabisi Onabanjo (former governor of the state) once said , if you raise pupils under the tree, they will behave like animals. But, if you treat them like human beings, they will behave like human beings.”

“Over the years, the old students have been contributing immensely to the sustenance of the school. Inspite of these contributions,we still found a situation where a classroom that accommodated 33-35 students in our own days in the  school(in the 70s),now seats about 100-200 students,all crammed together with hardly any space for the teacher.”