ANOTHER MASS FAILURE ?

No one bothers anymore to say "not again !" The past is when stakeholders spill ink to lament mass failure in national examinations like WAEC and NECO examinations. Year after year, not many people give attention to the News anymore - they have become annual routines. To our damaged psychic, we've simply adapt and not bothered, both parents and guardians knows the way round.

While the poor struggles, the rich kids knows where there are "special examination centres" and what to pay. The candidate doesn't have to sit for any exams, but (s)he's sure to have an authentic results with a pass of at least 5 credits including Mathematics and English. So, some jobless youths make a living around the examination malpractice "industry", to them, it's better than scamming or robbing people of their possessions. In fact, the examination industry itself is highly lucrative for everyone involve, the examination bodies, cyber cafe attendants, supervisors and invigilators, (malpractices) agents and just about everyone except students gets a slice of cake from our academic woes.

The assertion that, there is an increasing level of malpractices in national examination is well supported by data as shown in the table below.

2010-2014 WAEC May/June Performance Summary 

Year	% Pass	% Withheld	Total Candidate
2010	24.94	5.70	1,351,557
2011	30.91	5.29	1,540,250
2012	38.81	6.73	1,672,224
2013	36.57	6.75	1,692,435

2014

31.28

8.61

1,692,435

In the period of 5 years, the number of results withheld by the examination body due to various malpractices actions rose from 5.7% to 8.6% and this correlates well with increase performances by the students as indicated by the percentage pass, which rose from a low of 24.9% to a peak of 38.8% in 2012. The number of results withheld itself is only indicative of malpractices rate and not an exact picture of what transpire in numerous examination centres scattered around the country - many more malpractices goes unnoticed, ignored or un-penalized. Likewise, the percentage pass rate is worrisome, an average pass rate of 32.5% in most grading system would be an F. A total failure, reflective of the declining education standard in Nigeria.

Almost every academic sessions, several new schools are opened, most times by private individuals, but the education standard has failed to rise, in most cases, profit comes first for the schools owner. Likewise, government has reduced its role in funding education to mere paying of staff salaries and providing few basic needs. Such retrogression according to several observers started in the 80's when the government introduced an austerity scheme; Structural Adjustment Program or SAP, since then, not so much has improved as far as education is concern. Until lately when oil prices where sufficiently high to drive infrastructural and human development in education sector, negligible efforts were made to reverse the rot in our education system despite the extensive strike actions of 2013 by educators at all level of the education system.

To be speculative, not so much will change in 2015 as the country once again faces austerity measures and a possible change of government. So, until the government live up to its responsibility through targeted policies and funding, no amount of spilled ink will reverse the downward trends and rots in our education sector - a colossal disaster.