BY DAYO ADESULU

STAKEHOLDERS in the education sector have urged the Federal Government to consider the re-introduction of Higher School Certificate, HSC,  which was the main source of admission in the glory days of the Nigerian university system,  arguing that the abolition of HSC is one of the banes of educational development in Nigeria. At different fora, top executives in the sector, including past education ministers have made efforts to restore it, but such attempts did not see the light of the day.

Professor Oyesoji Aremu, Deputy Director (Academic), Distance Learning, University of Ibadan while speaking with Vanguard Learning said: “One of the banes of educational development in Nigeria unlike other countries, is instability of her educational policies.”

Educational policies
According to him, one of the educational policies of Nigeria in the 60s and early 70s was the HSC, also called the Sixth Form. Through bad policy, it was abolished mostly in the Southern part of the country. It was later re-introduced in the early 80s only for it to be abolished again.

He noted that a good number of products of HSC education did not only secure Direct Entry into universities, they were often more matured emotionally and cognitively by the time they entered universities of their choice.
The products of HSC, he maintained, were also seen as ‘adults’ in the university unlike those who came through UTME.

“As a product of the HSC with nine Advanced Level points, I can authoritatively and experientially attest to its quality.

“Given that information, restructuring of the secondary sector of education to accommodate the sixth form, would not only add quality to the education of candidates admitted to universities and thereby translate to effective manpower development, it would also reduce the current pressures on admission through UTME and post-UTME, ”Aremu said.

On his part, former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Peter Okebukola noted that there are two main interventions with high chances of bringing back the quality of fresh students into the Nigerian university system.

He said that drastic improvement in the delivery of secondary education is one, adding that, currently, the output from the secondary system is  very poor.
According to him, if quality of products of secondary education is significantly bolstered, the university system will be fed with quality first-year students.

Okebukola who is presently, the Pro-chancellor of Crawford University pointed out that the re-introduction of HSC which was the main source of admission in the glory days of the Nigerian university system, is one of the best things that can happen to the sector. He said that were it not for policy flip flop, the pilot run of the re-introduced HSC would have taken place in 2006, and by now, the re-introduced scheme would have gained ground.

He disclosed that the re-introduction of HSC was unanimously approved by higher education stakeholders from all over Nigeria at the 2002 National Summit on Higher Education. He explained that it was not to distort the 6-3-3-4 system as erroneously claimed, but to strengthen it as a complementary pathway to university education by the direct entry mode.

After the 2002 Summit, he continued, a Council memo on the subject was submitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and approved.

”Following the approval, the Honourable Minister of Education constituted a Ministerial Committee to work out the modalities for the implementation on a pilot scale. The HSC Re-introduction Committee was inaugurated on 19th March 2004. Some of the major recommendations of the committee which were approved include: Six Federal Unity Colleges, one from each of the six geopolitical zones of the country were identified for the pilot scheme; the six pilot schools will require the total sum N1,385,533,541.00 as capital and recurrent costs for take-off (as at 2004); the HSC programme should run for 18 months, from January to June of the following year;

JAMB should conduct admissions into the HSC pilot schools; only professionally qualified teachers with a minimum educational qualification of a first Degree and at least five years teaching experience in the relevant subject should be allowed to teach HSC students; the subjects to be taught under HSC should include the following groups, Science; Social Science; Technology, Arts and General Studies; the Federal Inspectorate Service (FIS) should continue with the expanded emphasis in order to adequately supervise the HSC programme; WAEC would conduct the qualifying ‘A’ level examinations for the HSC students; the admission policy into the universities should be broadened to accommodate HSC graduates using the Direct Entry mode;

and NERDC should prepare the curricula for the subjects on the long run. However, in the mean time, WAEC and NERDC should collaborate to revise the syllabus for the subjects to be used in the HSC pilot scheme.
“It is 2014 and these recommendations are yet to be implemented. This can be explained by the appearance of new actors in the education leadership at the federal and state levels following the change in government in 2007, a clear case of policy unsustainability.

Pointing out some of the advantages of HSC, the UNESCO consultant said that in contrast to the senior school certificate entrance requirement, the HSC programme will provide better quality and richer content for university education and prepare students for more hard work in their degree courses.

He said, “It will improve the success rate of university graduates and reduce attrition and dropout currently recorded by poor quality secondary school leavers who are admitted into our universities. “It will minimise the problems and consequences of immaturity of secondary school leavers who are admitted to degree programmes especially in relation to social vices, including cultism, examination malpractice and immoral activities.”