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JAMB AND THE TRAGIC EDUCATION CULTURE IN MODERN NIGERIA

(Why Cant We Stop this Ma ness!"


Rev Fr Gab Uchechimezie Emeasoba Within this column in the past two editions of The Ch#istian O$t%oo&' I published the last chapter of the last prophetic masterpiece of the great literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe There Was a Country. It was my own way of paying tribute to a man whose retinue of professional writings in the past century have transformed the African socio-cultural and political image before the world. It is true that Achebe did not extensively delve into a specific criti ue of the !igerian educational system in his boo", however, I must say that if there was any impression reading There was a Country made on me, it was the fact that I felt that the glory of !igerian education lay in the past #or has been lost$ and may never be recovered again, if urgent value reorientation is not called to the board. In that boo", Prof Chinualumogu Achebe narrated his formative years in school from %t Philip&s Central %chool 'gidi to (overnment College, )muahia, and then, to the prestigious )niversity of Ibadan. *e went further to ma"e a little detour around other prominent schools of his day+ ,.-.(.% 'nitsha, .ing&s College and /ueen&s College both in 0agos, (overnment College, Ibadan and Abeo"uta and the prestigious )niversity of Ibadan. It was indeed an opening into the glory that !igerian educational system en1oyed in those colonial years. ,espite the fact that in those days, proper educational administrative structures had not been well set up and not much infrastructure had been put in place, culture went along with education. 'nly in those days could one properly call schools agents of sociali2ation. People were formed with character and meritocracy was the rule of the game. Certificates represented those who had them because there was this spiritual connection that came from the cause-effect relationship between the student and the certificate. *ard wor", initiative and creativity were the magna carter of all educational institutions3 they were the pride of elitism. People could sit down and read and pass their examinations, even when it would ta"e them hell to ma"e it. Achebe, 1ust li"e my father, lived in an age when parents did not understand the value of education but yet, candidates would go out of their way to combine academic formation with farming and all sorts of peasant merchandise, 1ust to get the money to pay their tuition fees. And yet, they had time to study and become great. In those days, teachers were models of excellence and virtue. 4ill today, they have remained icons of our glorious past, and if only for them, we never forget the labours of our heroes past. In those days of great intensity, Information travelled along with formation to the extent that those prestigious colleges and institutions produced great men and women whose contribution to this nation&s progress have remained almost magical. Achebe too" a summari2ed roll call of such names in his boo"+ Christopher '"igbo, 5incent Chu"wueme"a I"e, 6lechi Amadi, I.!.C Aniebo, Chi"e -omah, (abriel '"ara, .en %aro Wiwa, 7en 6nweonwu, 8a1a !wachu"wu, '"oi Ari"po, !.). A"pan, 7ede '"igbo, Chinua Achebe, 8.'.8 '"e2ie, Chu '"ongwu, .elsey *arrison, 0a2 6"wueme, 9lora !wapa, -abel %egun, 7en 'bumselu, 6mmanuel 'biechina, Igwe A1a-!wachu"wu, 6me"a Anyao"u, Wole

%oyin"a, -ohammed 7ello, 8.P. Clar"e, Christine '"oli #Achebe&s wife$, and several others. It is 1ust a pity that today, all one can say is that things have fallen apart and the centre can no longer hold. 'n April :;th :<=>, after the much national debate about whether or not the 8oint Admission -atriculation 7oard would organi2e their annual examinations this year for admissions into institutions of higher learning, the exams eventually held as scheduled. As a 1ournalist, I had a privileged view of this year&s 8A-7 examination, from reports garnered from direct observers, the students themselves, different school invigilators as well as other external invigilators. A phenomenological and critical analysis of these reports reveals an unfortunate travesty of all educational standards and values. When I was lamenting at one occasion, somebody told me ?9r, this is normal business, It happens every year li"e this. 4he difference is 1ust that you too" note of it well this year.@ It was really embarrassing to "now that we have come down to this level and that we feel comfortable where we are. 9rom the reports gathered, most of the candidates for 8A-7 this year did not read for that exam. Aes, many of them registered for extra lessons at specially designated centres, but unfortunately, these centres were not training grounds3 they were deconstruction centres, hideouts specially made for the dearth and decay of our society. 4hese special centres for lessons and examinations in our time have metamorphosed into modern concentration camps B the future is in real danger. 9or information sa"e, most of these centres are organi2ed by secondary school teachers #mostly the ignorant avaricious ones$ who are supposed to be role models to students, and a ranch of other unserious university undergraduates who would want to ma"e millions even as students. It is to these centres that our children go to every day before every 8A-7 examination. Apart from the fact these centres offer many young boys and girls the stupid opportunity of being rec"less with their moral lives, they also gather to plan and execute electronic malpractice during exams, thereby peddling the assumption that there is no connection between hard wor" and merit. 4hey collect money from their parents #this year, the amount ranged from eight to seventy thousand naira, as the case may be$ and deliver to their organisers for their devious plans. 4hese days, people no longer ta"e examinations in schools close to their houses because they will always say that exams are not passed there. 4he culture sold out is that it is no longer human beings that read and pass exams but the schools and centres where the exams are ta"en. Candidates in !newi for example would not li"e to go to '"ongwu -emorial (rammar %chool, -aria Cegina (irl&s Comprehensive %econdary %chool or -other of -ercy %econdary %chool. 4hey don&t want any supervision or, as they would call it Ddistraction.& 4hat is why from the penultimate day to the exam date, there are wide inter-%tate migrations all over !igeria. Candidates in !newi can travel as far as Aba"ali"i 1ust to evade caution without counting several possible costs. -ost times, their organi2ers arrange that they sleep in hotels a night or nights before the exam, and they go often in mixed sexes B boys and girls. 4hey go, loaded with their phones and two or three communication lines. !obody cares about how they conduct themselves morally before and after the exams in their hotels. 4his year, one centre in !newi had as many candidates as would fill eight buses who paid varied amounts of

money to the special centre organi2ers, and who were so ferried to a hotel in 'werri from where they went for their 8A-7 examination on :; th April. What normally happens is that in the morning of the exam day, these candidates enter the halls with their phones, not to write, but waiting to be served with their own meal of the solved answers through bul" text messages sent to their phones while they are in the halls. 4he uestion remains then+ ?how do these evil organi2ers get the uestions they solve and send to these exam candidatesE@ ,oes it mean that examinations cannot be organi2ed in !igeria without lea"agesE 4his "ind of thing also happens in WA6C examinations. It is no longer news that WA6C exam uestion papers lea"ed days before the exam. %ome years ago, particular WA6C papers were cancelled 1ust because of such systemic inefficiency. When it comes to the level that even classroom exams are ta"en with the aid of phone text messages, then the level of danger for our future would be better appreciated. It is terrible imagining the picture of 8A-7 examination halls with all these devious preparations. 'nce they enter the halls, these young candidates throw caution to the wind. 4hey don&t even have the prudence of crosschec"ing the solved answers they have with the uestions on their tables. *ow would they when they are sure of nothing on their ownE 4hey are in a hurry to celebrate victory in advance. 4hey would 1ust be shading A, 7, C, ,, trusting totally on the genius of an anonymous and faceless idiot in one dar" corner of the world. 4errible generationF 8A-7 normally arranges her exam uestion papers according to types, ranging from types A to G. 4hrough this, they ma"e it radically impossible for two people having the same paper type to sit together once the numerical arrangement is followed. -ost times, when these candidates receive these answers, they 1ust copy without caring to "now which paper type they are copying. And sometimes, they share materials without caring to observe that they may have different paper types. What else can explain the "ind of massive failure experienced this year when the 8A-7 results were eventually published on -ay > :<=>E 4hroughout the !newi metropolis for example, the run of scores one evidences proceeds thus+ =H<, =:<, =I<, :<<, =;I, =J<, =J;, and for those who made it, :=<, :<H, the list can continue. %omebody called from 'sun %tate and said that the situation was not different there. 4he painful aspect of it is that most of these candidates paid through their noses, but this time they could not buy a favourable result. A candidate paid as much as !>I, <<<.<< and got ;< out of H<<. It is either that her antics failed her or that her brain box was also wrong this time. It is really a pityF Why can&t we stop this madnessE Why can&t we rebuild the glories of our ancient pastE Who will stand for this society in the next fifty yearsE Are we not yet tired of producing certificated illiterates that continue to entrench systemic dysfunction in all departments of our national lifeE When I loo" at my father and his generation, see them write and listen to them spea", I as" myself+ why can&t we be better than our fathersE 4he family in Africa is under crisis. In this last century too, religion has presented our society with the highest challenge of our time. 4here is no united vision in the voices heard, and when violence has also become an ingredient of religion in !igeria, it reveals clearly how much even the practice of religion is traumatised in our land. And now, education is also being plagued by dismal orientations. 4he family, school and the Church are the basic environments for the

cultivation of value in every society. 4hey are li"e a tripod on which every society stands. When they crumble, everything and everybody goes down. And no society can exist without value and culture. 'ur society is on the brin" of collapse, with the present condition of things in the educational orientation of our people. It is time to teach our people the value of hard wor". It is time to pursue merit. 0et parents insist that their wards read and ta"e their exams without any special centre. We than" (od that the government of (overnor Peter 'bi has done a lot to upgrade the uality of schools in Anambra %tate. 6ven though a lot still needs to be done, with the handover of schools to the Church, we hope to experience what 7ishop 'dili '"e"e called ?springtime for Catholic education.@ 0et us 1oin hands together and save our society from the debacle awaiting her, if things remain as it is. As the world prepares to commit to mother earth the remains of Professor Chinua Achebe on :> -ay :<=>, and as a great number from their generation pass on, we pray that (od will not leave our society without such ebullient men and women of inspiration and character, for as ,r %amuel %miles wrote+ ?persons of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well governed state, they are its motive power.@

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