…Govt wrong to stop students from WAEC exams, says Atiku
The House of Representatives through its Committee on Basic Education and Services prevails on the Federal Government not to cancel the planned West African Senior School Certificate Examinations, which was to commence with other exit examinations early next month, August.
The House of Representatives in a statement by the Chairman of the House committee on Basic Education and services, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, titled: “WASSCE should not be cancelled,” in Abuja, states that the policy reversal is not good for the country , in addition to the fact that critical stakeholders in the education sector in the country were not informed beforehand.
Ihonvbere further explains that the move by government also has the potential to create more confusion in the education sector.
According to the statement “The House Committee on Basic Education and Services received with amazement the announcement by the Honourable Minister of Education that Nigerian students would not be participating in the forthcoming WASSCE examinations.
“He did not inform the country if this was in agreement with other West African leaders or in consultation with the examination bodies, the state governments and other stakeholders in the education sector.
“The Minister did not also inform the public if the decision was the outcome of a meeting with all State Governments that are in charge of all but the Unity Secondary Schools that are owned by the Federal government.”
The Committee Chair said the Hon. Minister of State, in his usually consultative and participatory approach had briefed the nation at the COVID-19 presidential Committee briefing, over the airwaves and in an appearance before the House Committee on Basic Education where he assured Nigerians that all steps had or were being taken to ensure full compliance with all COVID-19 protocols.
“This sudden policy reversal is not good for the country. It is bound to create further confusion in the education sector, create disappointment and suspicion among parents, frustrate the students, and show to our development partners and Nigerians that the distortions and disarticulations in the sector are only getting worse.
“The reversal also shows that our policy makers may just be adopting a laid-back approach to the need to confront the novel coronavirus rather than taking proactive and creative steps to manage and contain it.”
The House Committee, however, disagrees with the Honourable Minister and believes that a reconsideration is urgently needed to save Nigeria’s educational system and listed (7) grounds on which the decision should be reversed and the examination successfully conducted.
” Nigeria is not the only country expected to write the examination in the midst of Covid 19;
“Nigeria should insist that the examination be based exclusively on the already covered syllabus of schools;
“The Federal Ministry should not chicken out of its responsibilities but take charge, provide policy direction, engage the states and other stakeholders” the committee chair further stated, advising the examination body to increase its invigilators and use all classrooms and event centres to conduct the examination and comply with covid protocols;
“The ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Ministries of Environment and Health should immediately work out an agenda to fumigate all classrooms, provide hand washing buckets with soap and water, and facemasks to all students;
“We are convinced that if our policy of no boarding house, reconceptualising scope of exams, use of all classrooms and halls in the schools, quadrupling the number of invigilators, provision of facemasks, sanitizers and hand washing facilities are followed, the WASSCE can be conducted with ease and with no repercussions.
“Let us collectively save and advance our educational system and build a future we can be all proud of,” the committee said
Also, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar said it was wrong for Nigeria not to let its students participate in the 2020 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Reacting in a statement on Friday, Mr. Abubakar, said the federal government’s decision “will further create chaos in the public education system and exacerbate an already bad situation.”
According to him, the cancellation will cause a setback for 1.5 million Nigerian youth who write the examination annually.
“To abruptly cancel this examination is to set back our nation’s youth, and place them behind their contemporaries in other West African nations. This is perilous, because Foreign Direct Investments and other economic indicators, are tied to the educational indexes of nations.”
He said Nigeria already lags behind other African nations in crucial indices, like school enrolment, pass rates, and out of school children.
Suggesting a way out, Mr Abubakar stated that “rather than a cancellation, there are better ways to protect the health of Nigerians and prevent the pandemic from escalating.”
“We could mobilise all available public and private infrastructures including primary schools, stadia, and cinemas, for the examinations,” he said.
“In the alternative, the federal government can prevail on WAEC to have staggered examinations with a different set of questions for each shift. Doing so will allow WAEC Nigeria implement social distancing and achieve the goal of carrying out the examinations. A win-win scenario.”
Mr Abubakar then urged the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to consider a reversal of the decision.
He stated that if the decision is not reversed, tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, will breach social distancing rules to cross over to neighbouring West African nations to write their WASSCE, rather than miss a year.
