Education has become one of the most powerful weapons known for reducing poverty and inequality in modern societies. It is also used for laying the foundation for a sustainable growth and development of any nation.
In recent years, the massive failure of students is becoming alarming. The recently conducted Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), can attest to that. Parents should not force their children to school, if they are not ready to be committed to their studies, if not it will result in waste of funds. The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently announced the release of the 2024 UTME results. About 1.9 million students registered and sat for the UTME examination, only 27% of 1.9 million scored above 200.
So, in this case it can be seen that about 77% scored below 200. This was a very poor performance compared to UTME written in the 90s. The massive failure of these students has led to the continuous reduction of cut off marks, just so as to give room for these students who are not academically sound enough and would be a burden and stress to the University admission.
JAMB’s act of lowering the cut-off marks for students, may also affect the upcoming candidates not to be serious with studies, knowing fully well that no matter the scores they may secure admission.
JAMB cannot also be exonerated, the body (JAMB) sets the standard for admission in Nigeria and we have watched as it has continued to lower the cut-off marks for students, thereby, providing the opportunity for weak candidates to scale through the hurdle.
Just take a look at the previous UTME examination and see the way this body (JAMB) is failing and declining just to meet up with this poor performance of the student.
Every year, it is becoming worst and nothing is being done about it. It means they are encouraging failure, because the younger ones would do worse, if they do not change their style and give strict rules for these students to adhere to. Why will the cut off mark be decreasing every year just to bring in dumb student into the University?. It is more like they are being selfish and are after the money coming from these students taking the exams.
Some students do not know what they want, they go with this flow of the societal ideology of being a graduate. This vivid picture of one going to school and being given more respect than those who are not privileged to go to school. So they just want to go to school, even when they know they are not ready to pay the sacrifice of being a graduate.
The reasons for this woeful performance are not far fetched, centering mainly on the candidates’ unpreparedness, laziness and desperation to pass and score high marks at all cost without putting in the required efforts. They are so lazy when it comes to reading. They pick up their books to read, after just two minutes of reading, they are tired and find reading boring, then try to seek freedom in the social media space. Students who should be busy with studying are always on social media as content creators on different platforms, while neglecting their education or giving little time for it.
Desperation of some parents to get their children into universities is also playing significant role. Many can spend huge amount of money to see their children pass the exam either by bribing the teachers or hiring some people to give them answers. The strict measures put in place by JAMB became their major challenge in realising their dream.
Some of these students have as well lose interest in school and the stress of reading, not because they are not capable but because of the system of government, where an average man’s child cannot secure a job after school, unlike in the early 90s, where students of the period have this zeal of learning because after schooling there is always an available job for them. In our Nation today, corruption and mismanagement has crippled industrialization.
So therefore, where are these fresh graduates, who have spent so much of their time, finance and gone through different mental stress just to graduate well expected to work, when the Nation herself is not providing job opportunities. Hence this mentality is passed to the coming generation which reduces the zeal to learn like the previous generation, thus there is this decline in academic manpower.
However, students should be exposed to a learning that is practicable. It has been proven that people learn easily when they can use the information to handle real time challenges. Some students just browse and cram, all these are not helpful to the students. The academy sector should change their style of teaching, it should be more practicable. Due to corruption and lack of good paying jobs in the system, most graduates have fallen back to teaching as a backup. Most times, these people are not passionate about their job. They seldom teach up to the required syllabus and how it is supposed to be taught, hence making the students lack the necessary information to handle external examinations.
With this deficiency in foundational knowledge, it becomes difficult for students to manage themselves. Management will always want to protect their reputation but instead of proffering intensive extra moral classes to compensate for this, they try to push the students from the school with malpractice. These students take this as a norm and throughout the remaining academic pursuit employs the same patterns. In the end, they are just empty certificate holders.
No matter the degree of moral decadence in the country these days, one should not stop impressing on students that honesty and hard work are the best policy and that there is no shortcut to success. This therefore brings us to proffering solutions to the perennial failure.
First and foremost, there must be a positive change in the lackadaisical attitude of students to education generally. All the majority of them are after is to be resoundingly successful in life without working hard for such success.
The idea that they can make it in life without education should be jettisoned. The notion generation between 70s and 90s grew up with was that, education is light and the key to success. Unfortunately the reverse is the case nowadays as brigands, drug pushers, armed robbers, fraudsters and the rest are the role models of today’s students.
Furthermore, the parents and the schools need to continuously orientate and re-orientate the students about the need to live an exemplary life that will impact positively on their academic performance eventually. Parents should monitor their children well and ensure that they devote adequate time to their studies instead of running errands and wasting their precious time on frivolities like mobile phones, football games etc.
All effort should be made by the schools and the parents to ensure that these children pass their examinations, including that of JAMB, while still in school as experience has shown that too many distractions affect them as external or non-school based candidates.
Government must ensure quality control through regular inspection of schools. By so doing, effort should be made to ensure that teachers in public schools, who are usually well certificated and qualified, are alive to their responsibility by teaching the students well. Furthermore, such inspectors must ensure that teachers in private schools are adjudged well certificated and qualified as many of them are uncertified, half baked and quacks.
I implore the government to play a vital role by encouraging the students by providing free scholarships, monetary funds and assistance to those who are in need of it. Before employing anyone to teach, they should be examined thoroughly if they are able to teach well.
Government should also create multiple job opportunities, so the students can regain their trust and confidence in the educational sector. The Government really has a lot of work to do when it comes to the development of the Nation. The parent of these children (students) also have a role to play in the development and growth of their children by helping them to find a career path instead of believing in school as the only way forward.
By: Tivere Angela Ishaka (Student)
Department of English,
Delta State University Abraka.
