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02/09/2025

School Hunting Tips:
Before You Make That Choice
Madam Agbaje is a middle aged woman whose mind is always agitated over the academic well being of his only son.
She seeks only one thing for the child.Improvement.And that has continued to elude the child much to her chagrin and of course displeasure.
In a space of 3 years,she has had to change the child's school more than three times.And she is not beating a retreat if the child's performances continue to be lackluster.But for how long would she continue to change school for her son like a baby changing diapers?.One can imagine the dilemma of such a concerned parent.
And like Madam Agbaje there are scores of other parents whose experiences in school hunting have also been pathetic and distressing.
To them, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than hunting for and finding a good school.
It is not uncommon to find schools springing up at every available space without any consideration for acceptable standards or quality benchmarks. Schools are now more of mere physical structures than knowledge bearing edifices.
In some cases, administrators and founders of schools are those that do not have passion for knowledge transfer to students and pupils.Such administrators are only into the school business for just one reason.Profit making.
They recruit substandard teachers without requisite qualifications and training to impart on the students.These teachers who are paid peanuts end up discharging their responsibilities without making meaningful impacts.
The students who are always at the receiving end are left to suffer the brunt regrettably.
But what then must parents like Madam Agbaje do to forestall this fate befalling them.?
What should parents be on the look out for in the choice of a school now that a new academic session is about to be heralded.?Here are a few of the game changing deals breakers.
Number 1.The Founder's Passion for Education and Academic Growth.
If you want to know what drives and motivates a school, find out what fuels the founder's passion in education.An apple we are told does not fall far away from its tree.So a school is nothing but a true reflection of its founder.A passionate founder establishes a productive school and a workable system that embraces a dedicated workforce and committed students.
Number 2.Disposition Towards Competitions and Awards.
It's very easy to determine the suitability of a school based on the attitude it shows towards achieving greatness through competitions and awards both local and international.Such competitions include debate, quiz, sports and talent show.
A school that focuses more on giving exposure to its students through competitions to test and assess their strength and capacity with others is one to embrace with open arms any day anytime
Number 3.Special Attention/Consideration for The Sciences.
One major factor to consider in the choice of a good school for a child is its strength and capacity in the sciences.
A school that places much premium on enhancing knowledge background through acquisition of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills by the student qualifies as a reliable school to entrust a child's academic care.
Such schools would no doubt have functional Chemistry, Physics and Biology laboratories with state of the art facilities.That is certainly a big plus to the student.
Number 4.Quality of Teachers.
Although it may be difficult for a parent to ascertain the quality of teachers in a school unless after the enrollment of the child, a conversational engagement with any of the teachers of a school prior to the child's enlistment could possibly give an idea of the level of intelligence and competence of the workforce in that school.This may not be fool proof but it sure works to some extent.Strong recommendations of the teachers by parents whose children are high flying students in the school is also a veritable means of assessing the quality of the teachers.
Other considerations that include an attractive learning environment and modern recreational facilities are also important factors to consider but are obviously not as effective as the above listed considerations.

10/08/2025

Like JAMB, Like WAEC
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is copying a script from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).The script is plain and simple.First,release contentious results.Then, admit to a glitch in the computation after widespread contestation and public outcry.Finally, apologize and release reviewed results.
The precedent was set by JAMB in April when its Registrar in a national televised press conference was seen shedding tears after admitting that technical glitches were responsible for the unsatisfactory results of the majority of the candidates.
Three days ago,the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) too after admitting to a bug in its server released another round of results that have been reviewed.
The results were revisited and upgraded after a large swathe of candidates had failed woefully in some subjects that were serialized including English Language, Mathematics,Economics and Biology.
The review shot the pass rate among the approximately 2 million candidates who sat for the exams from the despicable 38.32 percent to an encouraging 68 per cent signifying about 98 percent improvement in the results previously released.
But many are worried that the review of the results may likely cast a pall of doubt on the credibility of the results.
There is a widespread notion that WAEC may have been subdued to submission by the mounting pressure from affected parents and other stakeholders whose wards must have been badly hit by the incredible results.
Why couldn't the examination body detect any intrusion early enough before releasing the results since thorough checks and auditing are always done before the release of results to the public?
Why did it take the persistent complaints from different quarters before admitting to the errors?
Can we truly believe the excuse of a technical glitch each time results are rejected.?
How are we sure the students didn't actually get those grades in the results initially released.?
So many questions beg for answers as WAEC and other examination bodies struggle hard to defend the integrity of their exams which many are beginning to doubt.

06/08/2025

WAEC's 'Tsunami' Results
That the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the 2025 Senior Secondary School Examinations (SSCE) results is no longer news.What is however news worthy is the fallout of the abysmal performance of these candidates at the exams with 38.32 percent of the candidates obtaining a minimum credits in 5 subjects including Mathematics and English Language.
This percentage represents exactly 754,545 successful candidates out of a total of 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examinations.
It's a sharp drop by 33 per cent from the 72 per cent pass rate recorded in 2024.
All across the length and breadth of the country, the story is the same as students and parents alike continue to lament the unimpressive results which are likely to jeopardize the students' academic progressions.
Most candidates were confirmed to have suffered failure in English Language despite outstanding performances in other subjects while failure in Mathematics obliterated the results of few others.
This no doubt has led to a flurry of reactions from parents who have been ventilating their grouse in the weirdest manners.
In one particular video that has now gone viral, a man was seen sobbing over the result of his daughter who had failed to notch up all her papers.Many others gave sordid accounts of unfolding scenarios
Meanwhile,some commentators have attributed the mass failure in English Language to the late conduct of the paper by the exam body at the wee hours of the night.
Some other commentaries have also questioned and wondered why a student who had A1s in about 6 subjects including Maths, Physics and Chemistry would end up with an E8 in English Language.
While not trying to stick out neck for WAEC for the lapses that actually occasioned writing exams at such odd hours in most centers, it is however difficult to situate the nexus between a student's poor performance and the nocturnal conduct of exams.Of what effect would the timing of the exam be if a student already knows what to write not minding whether the exam is conducted during the day or at night.
The argument which also queries why a student who had succeeded in smashing other subjects could fail to subdue the English Language is neither here nor there.
Years ago when external examinations such as SSCE were conducted with a semblance of credibility and reliability, failure in English Language was rife and of course a recurring decimal among some categories of students.
It was not impossible then for a student to achieve As in Physics,Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths but with a P7 in English Language.
Achieving a C6 in English by a science student at that time was seen as an extraordinary feat.
It was an era when students had to rewrite exams for the sake of one subject-the Almighty English Language paper.
But ever since these external examinations including SSCE lost its integrity owing to prevalent leakages of question papers prior to the exams, securing A in English Language has become as easy as a knife cutting through butter.
But here we are now crying blue murder for a crime which the system inflicted on itself.
The hen has finally returned home to roost and we are left helpless and hapless.
It is general knowledge that students no longer commit themselves to their books but prefer to spend quality time with their gadgets.The outcome is this 'tsunami' of a result that is now staring everybody in the face.

30/07/2025

29/07/2025

Private Schools and The Pseudo Assessment Syndrome
Gbenga is a young student in one of the private secondary schools in the sprawling city of Lagos where schools are sprouting ceaselessly like mushrooms growing unabated on woods and forest products.
A very poor student academically, Gbenga is unable to string sentences or words together to make meaning.Neither is he able to manipulate figures correctly.Yet he parades results that belie his ability and potentials.
The term has just ended and he's seen brandishing a result that indicates he performed creditably well judging by his percentage and grades.
Welcome to the world of private schools where scores and grades are allocated to students unabashedly.
The likes of Gbenga abound in so many schools where students' scores are often upgraded and inflated to give a false sense of hope and assurance to parents who are often ignorant of such shenanigans.
The students are often promoted to the next class even when they are unable to match up and cope with the demands and expectations of their current outgoing class.
They are given promotion even when they are not deserving, all in a bid to ensure that parents continue paying the school fees of their wards.
In most cases,these students are admitted at the entry point to start their academic journey without any recourse to a veritable baseline performance.
Even when these students score below 20 percent in the entrance examinations they are given automatic admissions instead of rejections.
Such student continues to enjoy the aiding and abetting till he rounds up secondary school education with a result that is not truly his.
Upon arrival at the University his weakness is utterly exposed as he struggles very hard to keep up with the Johnesses.He may eventually end up being rusticated in the University if he's unable to stay afloat academically.
What a tragedy that would be for the student and his parents!
For this reason, all hands ought to be on deck to prevent this ticking time bomb from exploding and consuming all of us.Stakeholders in the educational sector including school owners, parents and other change agents need to harmonize positions to stem the ugly trend.We cannot afford to trade the future of our students on the altar of pecuniary gains.
Let merit and excellence be the guiding principle.