SSCE:A LUCRACTIVE BUSINESS?

My sincere gratitude to friends that sent me birth day well wish via mobile sms and other social networks, my Allah live us together as partner in progress (amen).

Senior secondary school examinations(SSCE) is prepared and administered by the west African examination council(WAEC),an organization that has operated school examination in several west Africa countries since 1954,in 1989, the SSCE replaced the west African general certificate of Education O and A level. In 1999,the  Nigerian government established the National Examination Council  of Nigeria (NECO) in other to compete with WAEC. NECO first try at offering the SSCE,on June and July 2000,the rivalry between the two exams bodies increased so much that by early 2001 there was confusion among student over which exams body to register, many register the both while few student register only one.  

In an effort to promote Nigerian patriotism and discourage ethnic rivalry, the federal government established 63 unity secondary schools around the federation with the purpose to bring boys and girls from different ethnic groups to study and live together in harmony. In the state level, government has hundred of schools in various localities of the state, but due to lack of funding, lack of conducive environment of learning and poor welfare services make the teachers to became reptile and lack of dedication and commitment to their services, which lead to the proliferations of private secondary schools, various parent prefer to take their children’s to private school because majority of the private schools gave best and quality education to their student.

Now a day many private mushroom schools were established here and there in some part of the state of the federation, just ordinary O level holder would build a two rooms house and call it a ‘school’, employed a teacher of his the same cadre or even lower, paid him less, a single teacher would be teaching  three to four subject and at the same time teaching another schools, the state universal basic education  and ministry of education are not that prudent in supervision of private schools, what they are after is just ‘money’ not the standard and quality education that would given to the student, that is why examinations malpractices is not a new phenomenon in our society, especially when it comes to SSCE.

The so-called schools would register any person in SSCE and admit him in what the called ‘SPECAIL CLASS’ which cost thirty thousand naira, the applicant would not even seat for the exams but he shall get his nine credit, for the regular students pays five hundred naira per each paper and when it comes to most wanted papers (English and math) is one thousand naira. How would Nigeria move forward? With moral and educational corruption is at the grass root level and the would be the first category of people to abuse the public looters.

There is a great need for the exams bodies to upgrade their system and to come out with a new strategies in term of recruiting their ad hoc staffs (invigilators),the federal and state ministry of education should embark on trout investigations on substandard private schools, should also try and reform the public schools, urge student to work hard to read and pray for success not to depend on ‘special class’ because  bread at hand is more better them a bread in market.