By Emmanuel Edukugho
Mass failure recorded in public examinations such as NECO and WAEC should not be seen as something strange but the outcome of various efforts by civil society to check the scourge of examination malpractices ravaging our educational system.
An educationist and publisher, Education Watch, Dr. Anthony Ashinwo, made this observation while reacting to the recent poor showing by candidates at the recent NECO Nov/Dec 2009 examination in which less than 2% of the total candidates passed in 5 credits including Mathematics and English required for admission into the University.

Speaking ahead of the 2010 Education Watch Awards coming up in November, he said:

“That exam (NECO Nov/Dec) Nas for private candidates. Many of them did not read or study well enough prior to the examination. A lot of them preferred taking to cheating and  all forms of malpractices which did not favour them like before.

For the serious ones who are in employment, their organisation did not give them sufficient time to go and study for the examination. Governments made the matter worse as they did not make learning facilities available for use by candidates for extra-mural classes.

Ashinwo cited Lagos State where operators of study centres no longer have access to the use of public schools for extra-nural classes.

He noted that this kind of action deprives the few willing and serious candidates aspiring to further education the privilege of achieving their academic dreams.

According to him, government only needs to reach a compromise with operators of tutorial centres which will enable the latter utilise government facilities under some laid down regulations.

“But now, there are no government checks again. Today, one sees posters pasted in front of some of these coaching centres reading: “Make 8 credits at a go in NECO,” “Pass WAEC with distinction,” and so on, as if these coaching centres are the ones that will the exams for the candidates.”

He added: “Unfortunately, the students themselves being lazy, want to achieve success without working for it via short-cuts thereby enrolling in several of these tutorial classes. At the end of the day, what we have is garbage in, garbage out.”

As regards the forthcoming awards, Ashinwo disclosed that the management of Education Watch has perfected plans to turn the magazine into a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in order to expand its scope.

He said that this year’s award series will have a maiden lecture in addition to an essay competition tagged:

“Impediment to the study of Education in Nigeria the students perspective.

His words: The essay is only meant for students in the Universities which only have faculties of education alone and colleges of education. For us, we have written letters to about 52 universities and 27 colleges of education that we are sure have education departments that their students can send entries.”

Cash prizes of N100,000, 75,000 and N50,000 await first, second and third winners, while consolation rewards of N10,000 will go to other seven winners with the best essays.

Other awards are “Education Reporter of the year,” “Best Governor in Education” and a “Distinguished Service Award” for journalists with a minimum of 10 years on education reporting.

Another set of awards for Universities adjudged as best in Admissions process, University with Best Staff Welfare, University Best in Student Unionism, University with Best Management and University with Best Infrastructure.