A peep into Zamfara secondary education

The performance of students in Zamfara State has put to question the commitment of the state’s authorities and parents to secondary education. This in turn has devastating impact on effective learning.    The inability to deliver quality education in public schools has reduced the students’ enthusiasm to prepare for good grades and pass school certificate […]

The performance of students in Zamfara State has put to question the commitment of the state’s authorities and parents to secondary education. This in turn has devastating impact on effective learning.   

The inability to deliver quality education in public schools has reduced the students’ enthusiasm to prepare for good grades and pass school certificate examinations as well as seek admission into universities, though enrolment figures show significant improvement according to data from the government. 

 Lately, there has been a sharp decline in the number of centres and candidates for the November/December Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) prepared by both the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO), a senior official at the state Ministry of Education has said. 

Similarly, the number of students that obtained the minimum entry qualifications into higher institutions was not cheering. 

 The official said the centres for the two examinations have gone down from about 10 to only one in the state in recent years due to increase in exam fees.

 According to him, some students have abandoned school to start or join small businesses, including commercial motorbike riding in big cities like Lagos and Kaduna.

 “Even the results for the November/December school certificate examination recently released by NECO should be looked at from the perspective of how many candidates registered for the examination in the first instance.

 “There was a report that only 24 candidates passed, but it failed to give further details on how many candidates sat for the examination. Let me tell you, most of the candidates registering for November/December examinations are non-indigenes who secure admission into our tertiary institutions but are deficient in some core subjects. 

“We only provide centres for them because it is a purely private affair. Most of the candidates writing the examinations are external. They pay their fees externally and write the examinations,” he added.

 The former commissioner for education in the state, Alhaji Mukhtar Lugga, said 186 external candidates sat for the 2017 November/December NECO examination and that it was not the June/July exams that the state-sponsored candidates took adding that the sponsored candidates recorded almost 50% pass mark. 

“An overwhelming percentage of candidates that normally register for Nov/Dec private exams are mostly not likely to be products of our schools and many are non-indigenes of our state.

“It is common practice for students seeking for admission into tertiary institutions in the state to register for private exams in order to make up the requirements for admission.  This category of candidates will not likely be aiming for five credits,” he said. 

Another senior state official said lack of commitment by the authorities and parents alike was part of the reasons for poor performance in external exams.

 “Not all parents can pay N15, 000 for such examinations. Most of our candidates are sponsored by the state government for the May/June examinations. Most parents in the state relied heavily on the state government for payment of fees for such examinations and can’t take the responsibilities upon themselves. 

 “Our orientation on the value of education must also change before any meaningful progress can be made. I say so because it is in our villages that you will see a man with a herd of cattle but will be more willing to sell part of the cows for the wedding proposal of his son than paying examination or school fees for him,” he said.

He however faulted the policies of the state government tagging them misplaced priorities. He said the policies would be better if appropriately repositioned.

“A case in point, is the state government spending more than N100 million on the feeding of Day Secondary School students but is finding it difficult to pay WAEC and NECO fees to the tune N440 million yearly. 

“Of what benefit is feeding day students? And let me tell you some of these students sneak out of the schools after taking the meals before closing hours. Do you see any logic there? Each of these examination bodies charges about N15,000 per candidate.

 “The state government owes an examination body about N1billion, yet we spend more than N100 million feeding day students monthly. Does the feeding policy have any academic impact on our students? Why can’t we prioritize the academic needs of our students?” he asked.

 However, checks at the state examinations office revealed that the number of candidates that sat for the May/June NECO/ WAEC examinations was 23,000.

 In 2015, 23,047 students sat for the SSCE in 150 schools across the state and 38 per cent obtained credits in 5 subjects and above including English and Mathematics. 

In 2016, 23,484 took the exams and 38.17 per cent got 5 credits and above including English and Mathematics. In the same vein, 23,733 students sat for the examination in 2017 and 32.01 per cent got 5 credits and above.

 On the other hand, about 39.5 per cent of the state sponsored candidates that took NECO exams obtained 5 credits and above while 37.03 per cent passed in 2016 and 48.5 per cent in 2017.

 In terms of admission into higher institutions, Zamfara State was among the least according to statistics obtained from the website of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). 

For example, in 2015, a total of 5,222 matriculants comprising of 4,067 males and 1,119 females applied for admission but only 1,303 consisting of 401 males and 902 females secured admission. By contrast, a total of 24,871 out of 103,724 candidates from Imo State were admitted into various institutions same year.

In 2014, 9,373 candidates applied for admission from Zamfara State but only 1,345 were admitted. Osun had 81,057 applicants in the same year out of which 22,453 got admissions.    

In the meantime, enrollment figures in the state was said to be encouraging because 92,090 students consisting of 60,471 males and 31,691 females were enlisted into public Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in 2015. 

In Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) there were 68,159 students comprising of 18,106 females and 50,053 males in the same year.

 In 2016, a total of 93,605 students were in JSS with 61,993 males and 31,622 females. The enrolment figure in SSS was 75,493, with 53,162 males and 22,335 females.

In 2017, there were 69,066 in SSS consisting of 47,776 males and 21,929 females. As for the JSS, there were 88,548 students comprising of 31,392 females and 57,156 males. 

Meanwhile, data obtained from the State Universal Basic Education by our correspondent indicated that there was a boost in the enrollment drive. The total number of pupils in public primary schools in 2010 was 255,647 out of which 172,262 were males. 

 The number of pupils was said to have risen of recent to 478,385 with 310,148 males and 168,237 females according to a senior official in the board.

Also, donor agencies have offered support to the state to boost the spread and quality of education. In 2014 for instance, DFID had sponsored 350 female students from the state to study in various Colleges of Education on condition that they would return to their communities to teach. The move was meant to increase the number of female teachers in schools and encourage girls to go to school.