Our Educational Abyss 1

"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Abraham Lincoln.

Students hoping for places in Nigeria’s universities would be sitting their UNIFIED TERTIARY MARTICULATION EXAMINATION (UTME) tomorrow. Best wishes guys!

This got me thinking about the education I left in Nigeria. I could not help but remember the imbalance in the standards of education in different schools, both public and private. I grew up in Ife and there were some public schools that were deemed ok as well as some private ones that were labelled ‘really good’.  University education follows right after secondary school.  The common belief is that students who are in Colleges of Education and Polytechnics are there because they failed JAMB (UTME is organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board so the exam is commonly called JAMB).

Somehow, with all the massive differences in the standards of education in Nigeria’s primary and secondary schools, students are expected to sit for the same exam (JAMB) in order to have access to higher education (I know that there are now Post UTME exams as well). There is also talk about the standard of education in Nigeria being lower in some regions compared to others and the Northern region is said to have the lowest.

I would like to know what all the many educational boards in Nigeria are doing. Most students do not pass JAMB the first time and a lot end up taking JAMB or Pre-degree lessons. The ones that have gained admissions the first time either put in a hell of extra-curricular work or had really good Expo or knew someone in the university that facilitated their admission. Why is it that there is no standard educational bridge between secondary school and university?

This brings me to the curriculum. Are there centralised curriculums for taught subjects with set rules on how teachers should follow them or do teachers just make up these things? I can hardly remember any of my teachers finishing their syllabuses (I do not like syllabi lol) on time. In my secondary school, I was in school on a lot of Saturdays to attend classes that were held in order to cover all the topics in the teachers' mysterious ‘lesson notes’. Even with all these ‘classes’, most of which were more than two hours, we knew enough for WAEC and NECO but definitely not for JAMB (WAEC and NECO are examinations held at the end of secondary education).

How can this issue be resolved? Do you think syllabuses should be centralised? Should secondary schools be forced to make sure that their curriculums include topics that are considered ‘JAMB standard’? Do education boards need to do more to veto schools that routinely churn out unprepared students? Is it right for schools in particular regions to have lower thresholds? Should programmes like A-levels and Pre-degree be made compulsory for students in order to bridge the gap between secondary schools and higher institutions?

 A lot of ‘developed’ countries actively promote bridging. This way, students would not have to fail JAMB or other exams before seeking for help, the help would have been part of their learning from the start. It would also be helpful to remove the ‘JAMB failure’ stigma attached to students who are in higher education but not in the university (polytechnic and college students).  This is one of the reasons why it is hard for graduates from varying institutions to find employment.

Each year millions sit for JAMB but hundreds of thousands will retake the examination the following year; each year, thousands become frustrated at having failed the exam yet again and opt for different forms of higher education; each year people in particular regions complain of not getting places while their fellow students with much lower marks got admissions in other regions. A lot of scenarios play out each year. When would the charade stop?

I am obviously talking from my personal experience. Share yours in the comments section please.


@payme_my2cents

Share this with as many people as you can :)