New Telegraph

Confusion over WASSCE cancellation

CONFUSION

 

Stakeholders in the education sector have expressed displeasure over last week’s, cancellation of WASSCE and suspension of schools’ reopening

 

˜NAPPS frowns over FG’s suspension of WASSCE, schools’ reopening

˜NAPTAN: Parents are confused

˜Stakeholders accuse minister of insensitivity

˜NUT: We’re short of words, but still consulting

˜SSANU: Govt has failed to show enough sense of responsibility

˜ERC: FG not prepared for resumption of schools

 

These are definitely not the best of times for Nigeria’s education sector; the school system is in for the worst crisis.

 

This is no thanks to the recent move by the Federal Government to cancel the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and foreclosed any plan to reopen the school system, closed down since March, at the wake of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country.

 

The Federal Government, through the Minister of Education, Mallam Adumu Adamu, had last week, shocked the entire nation when it put on hold the reopening of schools across the federation due to the spike of COVID-19 across the federation with over 31,000 infections and more than 700 deaths.

 

Less than 48 hours that the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, had on Monday last week announced gradual resumption of schools for graduating pupils and students in Primary 6, Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) and Senior Secondary School (SS 3) to write their external examination, the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), the Minister of Education came out, to the disbelief of stakeholders to reverse the earlier directive and announced the cancellation of examination and suspended indefinitely reopening of schools across the country.

 

 

The PTF had stressed that the decision to reopen schools was meant to allow pupils and students in graduating classes to resume preparation for examinations. Announcing the cancellation of the WASSCE and reopening of schools, the Minister said: “We will rather lose a year than exposing the children to danger.

 

Students and pupils in graduating classes, who were billed to resume for revision classes preparatory to their final examinations would no longer be allowed to do so because of the worsening spread of coronavirus infections in the country.”

 

Adamu further declared that Unity Schools and other schools under the supervision of the Federal Government would not resume classes until it was safe to do so, while schools earlier directed to resume classes in order to participate in the WASSCE scheduled to hold between August 4 and September 5; the Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) and the National Common Entrance Examination (NCE) for pupils in Primary Six had been put on hold indefinitely.

 

Following PTF’s announcement, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had on Tuesday, during a press conference at the Yaba, Lagos, Headquarters of the Council, announced that the conduct of the 2020 WASSCE for School Candidates would now hold between August 3 and September 5 for.

 

The examinations, which earlier were supposed to have held between April and June, were suspended due to a coronavirus outbreak in the country with a total of 1,594,463 students that registered for the Diet expected to write the examination across the federation.

 

The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC (HNO), Mr. Patrick Areghan, said that the conduct of the examinations at this period became expedient in view of the fact that the five member-countries of WAEC, despite the COVID-19, were ready to conduct the examinations and thus Nigeria could not be left out.

 

While addressing journalists, Areghan, however, added that the conduct of the ex-amination was not arbitrarily set as WAEC consulted extensively with the governments of all the five-member countries before arriving at the period and duration of the examination.

 

In deference to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Areghan hinted that the five-week arrangement was arrived at in order to make room for the other examination bodies to equally conduct their examinations in good time.

 

Though, WAEC has not made any categorical statement on the cancellation, however, a source confided in New Telegraph that any further comments or next line of action would be decided by the Council at the member countries’ meeting in Ghana, which is expected to hold this week.

 

Since last Wednesday’s announcement by the Minister, palpable confusion has gripped the entire education sector, and generating condemnation from stakeholders.

 

Prior to the latest development, critical stakeholders including National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS); Private University Proprietors, led by the legal icon and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN); the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU); parents; National Parent Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN); Nigeria Teachers Union (NUT); National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Nigerian Medical Association, among others, were divided over plans by government to reopen schools.

 

While some argued that the move was not only badly thought out and could also expose both teachers and students to the deadly infection, other stakeholders, who canvassed for school reopening said that the continued closure of schools was not only ill-advised, but could also spell doom for the nation’s education sector

 

Rather than assuage the situation, the sudden reversal on reopening of schools for graduating students and the cancellation of the WASSCE by the Federal Government has been widely greeted by condemnation by stakeholders.

 

In fact, the private schools, which are worst hit by the sudden change of the Federal Government, regretted the action, lamenting that they had already commenced the procurement and installation of the items as well as keyed into the six conditions earlier given as pre-conditions for reopening of schools.

 

The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Otunba Yomi Otubela, while stating the association’s position said all private schools were prepared to write the WASCCE.

 

“We have already put in place all the necessary precautions and safety measures as advised by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),” NAPPS added, even as they appealed to the Minister of Education to reconsider his earlier position and allow the position of the stakeholders to allow the children to sit for the examinations to prevail.

 

In the same vein, the National President, National Association of Parent-Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, regretted the government’s action, asking that if the children do not sit for the SSCE, how would they pursue admission into higher institutions?

 

He said: “Most of these candidates had earlier sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and JAMB has said the results would be forwarded to higher institutions by August. So, are we saying that we are not going to have new intakes in Primary 1, JSS 1, SS 1, and 100-Level in higher institutions?”

 

He wondered how the same government that made the earlier pronouncement that graduating classes should be permitted to sit their examinations, suddenly made a U-turn to suspend reopening of schools. Danjuma, who described everything as confusing, noted that parents, as critical stakeholders, were not aware of all these back and forth positions of the government.

 

Apart from General Papers, such as Mathematics, English and Biology that could not have more than 200 candidates in a class, he hinted that papers such as Geography, Government, Literature-in-English, History might not have more than 40 candidates in many centres as the case may be.

 

“We are not saying schools should be opened for full classes, for God’s sake. Surprisingly, the same government has opened up markets, religious worship centres, airports and also inter-state transits,” he added.

 

Also, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), expressed readiness to resume classes for graduating classes to hold revisions and sit for their examinations.

 

According to the Chairman of FCT NAPPS, Olusola Bankole, some high-flyer schools had spent over N5 million to meet the stipulated preconditions, while low-end schools had spent over N100,000 to acquire these facilities.

 

Thus, the association condemned the decision to reverse the gradual reopening of schools for graduating classes, describing the government’s action as insensitive to the plight of students and school administrators.

 

Bankola, who said the continued lockdown of schools was causing more harm than good to proprietors, teachers and the students in various degrees, noted that the teaching profession, which has suddenly become an endangered profession, is struggling to find a balance.

 

When contacted, the Secretary General of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Dr. Mike Ene, who said the union was yet to take a stand on the issue, simply told New telegraph: “We are still consulting, I cannot make any statement now. We are yet to hold our mega meeting with a view to taking a proper decision. We will be coming up with a statement shortly.”

 

Also, the immediate past Chairman of the National Association of Private School Proprietors in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, Carl Ofonye, who frowned at the government’s action, noted that the Federal Government had failed in its responsibilities to reopen schools due to coronavirus.

Meanwhile, a don at the Lagos State University (LASU) and Dean, School of Transport, Prof. Samuel Gbadebo Odewumi, said like other nations of the world, Nigeria is regrettably caught up in the web of coronavirus infection.

 

Despite, he called for a very gradual well-calibrated and guided resumption of only graduating students in SS3 class in the public schools without boarding house to attend school for three days a week, while the SS 3 students in schools with boarding system should be allowed to resume while they adhere strictly to all the protocols such as wearing face masks, regular hand washing and use of temperature measurement.

 

“Many countries that tried to open are shutting down because of a noticeable spike in the curve. But, we can observe the trend for two weeks after which the government will review the situation either to open more schools or close them again.

 

“Similar gradual reopening could be adopted for the tertiary institutions starting with the final year,” he added. Odewumi, however, pointed out that the situation is not an issue for “beer parlour” debate, but that of hard-nosed scientific observation, data analysis, and accurate interpretation for sound decisions.

 

However, a non-governmental organisation, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has described the Federal Government’s action as another policy summersault, saying the organisation was not surprised over the decision. Its Director, Hassan Soweto, said the Minister took the decision, in the first instance, due to lack of visible or significant upgrade of schools to make them COVID-19 full-proof since the federal and state governments initially announced plans to reopen schools.

 

He said it would have been a case of taking pupils to the slaughter slab if the Federal Government had gone ahead with the plans to reopen schools, given the comatose state of the education sector with insufficient qualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, shortage of furniture and sickbays, as well as lack of toilet facilities, running water in almost all schools.

 

Hassan said that part of the steps expected that the government should have taken was to build additional classrooms in order to ensure lower class sizes, recruit more teachers and non-teaching staff, establish sick bays, rejuvenate the public water works in the states and link every school to the regular water supply.

 

The organisation, which condemned the government’s action and noted that they were not prepared for resumption of schools, also disagreed with the government that students have to lose a whole academic year because of the pandemic.

 

He said: “For ERC, if the Federal Government is truly concerned about the safety of the children, it should have implemented farreaching measures to upgrade school facilities in order to make them safe. Schools cannot be shut forever because at some point they would have to be opened.”

 

ERC, however, expressed belief that safe return to schools and writing of examinations without jeopardising the health of pupils and staff is possible only on the basis of upgrading the schools to make them COVID -19 safety compliant. The organisation, therefore, suggested the formation of “COVID-19 Safety Monitoring Committees”

 

in all schools to be made up of elected representatives of NUT, PTAs and pupils to ensure these measures are satisfactorily put in place before reopening of schools, and must be ready to organise a walkout where necessary safety measures were found to be flouted.

 

Stating its position, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), which faulted the government for its irresponsibility, also noted that the government at all levels had failed to show enough sense of responsibility, coordination and due diligence in ensuring the safe resumption of schools.

 

Apart from the general guidelines, calling on school proprietors to ensure the use of face masks, hand washing and physical distancing, the association pointed out that there had been no properly coordinated or organised measures in place to ensure strict compliance with the directives so as not to endanger the lives of students and workers in the school environment.

 

The union called for thorough coordination like the aviation industry, where the Federal Government embarked on adequate measures to ensure compliance with all the safety protocols through reorganisation and strict monitoring of the airlines by the regulatory agencies to be replicated in the education sector.

 

SSANU Public Relations Officer, Abdussobur Salaam, who asked for the education sector regulatory agencies either for primary, secondary or tertiary levels, said before schools should reopen critical assessment had to be carried out by the agencies in ensuring that all the protocols are complied with.

 

He wondered: “Nothing is on ground to empower schools and ensure the safety of students and members of staff in the institutions.

 

Our educational institutions are not prepared to resume because many things that were needed to be put in place, are not yet on ground.

 

“As a country, we have been largely reactive to the challenges posed by the pandemic. If the government at all levels had shown enough commitment towards resumption of schools, by now, we would have been adequately prepared but that has not been the case. We would not have these challenges necessitating the cancellation of 2020 WASCE.”

 

Some private school teachers, who declared that the continued closure of schools, and the inability of most private school owners to pay their workers’ salaries due to non-availability of funds, however, described the Minister’s action as wickedness.

 

They told New Telegraph that the alleged incompetence of those at the helm of affairs of the education sector has resulted in the increasing crises rocking the school system.

 

So far, further investigations by New Telegraph have indicated that many state governments, were yet to draw out the modalities for their schools’ resumption, and hence they have not decided on that since they needed to buy infrared/thermometers, fumigate school premises, provide hand sanitisers and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for teachers.

 

Again, the African Principals Conference Initiatives (APCI), a non-governmental organisation, stated that the Federal Ministry of Education, as its constitutional responsibility should ensure quality and timely education of the Nigerian- child, especially in managing the COVID-19 crisis.

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