Trouble is upon the new academic session in Oyo State. Public secondary school pupils, who protested a new merit-based education policy by the state government, ran riot in Oyo town and Ibadan, the state capital. They burnt down school buildings and attacked teachers. Their uprising led to the death of one person in Oyo town; they vandalised the hoardings having the image of Governor Abiola Ajimobi. The society is imperilled when youths are nurtured with a mindset that violence is right.
The pupils burnt down seven schools, including the Anglican-Methodist Secondary School, Oba Adeyemi High School, Isale-Oyo Community High School (all in Oyo); and Ojoo High School, Ibadan. A few days after the initial mayhem, Ladigbolu Grammar School, Oyo, had its fence demolished. In plain language, this is a breach of the law. Protests are legitimate, but arson is a different matter entirely. It is outrageous that school children will indulge in criminality to ventilate their opposition to an education policy that is aimed at restoring excellence.
The issue at stake is simple. Since 1999, Oyo State pupils have recorded a calamitous drop in performance in their external examinations. This ugly outcome arose because of the mass promotion policy of previous administrations. Without exams, pupils were promoted to the next class en masse. It ultimately led to mass failure in external examinations. In the May/June 2015 West African School Certificate Examinations, for example, pupils from the state finished in the 26th position – out of 36 states. Performance is measured by candidates scoring a credit in a minimum of five subjects, including English and mathematics. For a South-West state, this is scandalous. Only 16,588 or 21.03 per cent of the 78,896 candidates made the grades, a red flag that appropriately inspired the reform.
The archives of the West African Examinations Council, National Examinations Council and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board are brimming with records of mass failure of Oyo State candidates. Annually, over 50,000 candidates fail in English and maths, which are compulsory for tertiary education. As a result, the Ministry of Education unveiled a new measure to reverse the trend. Now, each pupil is required to score a minimum of 50 per cent, which must include the two compulsory subjects. As expected of students who had been ill-prepared, the initial enforcement led to mass failure – and repetition of classes.
But this is a well-thought-out policy. Education is the bedrock of a modern society; it galvanises productive knowledge. It must be able to provoke the human mind to conquer new heights. There is no point in rushing students through the system in the name of schooling. It is a gamble to return to the old system that fostered mediocrity, laziness and unproductive citizenry. The risks ill-equipped school-leavers pose to the country are apparent: criminality, non-competitive economy and poverty-ridden society. The Ajimobi government should not be deterred by the opposition. It should implement the reform; it offers the best corridor to restoring education to its former glory in the state.
But the government must go beyond the moment to unearth the reasons why public school pupils in the state are becoming accustomed to vandalism. Last June, they violently protested against a proposal by the government to return 31 mission secondary schools to their original founders. Arguing that the policy would make them pay for education, they took to the streets of the state capital in act of brigandage that would make even hoodlums shrink back. But elsewhere, Anambra and Delta states are reaping rich dividends after their governors returned the schools their governments seized from the missions in the 1970s. Anambra alone returned 1,040 primary schools over a period of 15 months. Lagos State had earlier taken a similar route in 2001.
The school is not an arena for raising vandals and scoundrels. Apart from being an institution to impart knowledge, it is a place to forge strong moral character. Students who damage public infrastructure at the slightest opportunity will grow up to become liabilities to the society. Ajimobi should fully implement his school reform.
We had advocated in June that the state government should identify the culprits of that mayhem and subject them to the full weight of the law. We re-state our earlier position: working in collaboration with the police, the vandals should be fished out and prosecuted. Minors among them should be tried at juvenile courts. This will convince others not to tread this dangerous path in future. Any attempt to do otherwise will boomerang.
The English capital, London, is better off after a tough crackdown on youth crime following the August 2011 riots and looting, which were triggered when police shot Mark Duggan. British Ministry of Justice figures showed that a year after, 4,600 suspects were arrested and 1,292 jailed. An analysis by two Oxford University economists stated that the tough punishments – an average of 16.8 months custodial sentencing – lowered crime in London and the surrounding areas. The Crown Prosecution Service’s chief prosecutor, Alison Saunders, said: “One thing we also learned in the disorder is that if we can get people in court fast and get them sentenced, it acts as a deterrent – it made people think twice.” She is spot on. To save its future, Oyo State should apply similar measures against these wayward students.
