There is really no common core in Nigeria. And if the nation does not fix that, we have no future. WAEC/NBS published statistics on how public schools are performing by geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Instead of professionals being challenged by the data and working to see how to improve, most of the commenters summarized: those outperforming are cheating. I am truly stunned beyond words.
This mindset is the reason Nigeria has faded. So, if an Enugu boy does well, a Kano girl can say he cheated – and then relax. And tomorrow, a Yola girl does well in JAMB and Uyo boy says she cheated. This is typical, no more spirit of competition. How can we engineer healthy rivalry in students?
I was in a Board meeting and shared a sector comparison on how companies were doing. The chairman reminded thus: “those other companies cook their books, we do not. So, we are not worried that they do better”. Needless to say that because of that mindset, the business did not see any reason for improvement. It has a great excuse: the other guys were cheating and that was why they were winning!
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I have written to a friend in NBS to see if they will share the breakdown by private schools or combined (everything lumped together). I can write clearly that in private schools, Southwest will outperform other geopolitical zones in Nigeria by a huge gap even though it came 5th in the public school category. Across all indicators, SW has pushed private education to the highest level in Nigeria.
Osun State alone possibly has more private universities than all private universities in the Southeast combined! And those private universities have private primary and secondary schools. Parents with decent income send their kids to those schools, leaving the public schools dry. So, if you just focus on the public schools in secondary school, you will not get the full picture about Southwest.
That said, I will not expect Southsouth private schools to say that SW students cheat in private schools because I expect them to outperform. Until we have the spirit to think analytically and decide to inject new energies instead of excuses, Nigeria will continue to struggle.
Thirty years ago, Anambra State was one of the least performing states in secondary school education. Today, it ranks top 5 in Jamb and WAEC consistently, demonstrating that policies can change outcomes. But while Anambra State was moving to the top, Imo State which until recently recorded highest literacy rate in Nigeria cannot even make the top 10 in WAEC.
Nigeria can win if we work with facts and data even as 2023 comes!
In Osun, you have 10 universities; 8 are private. Those schools admit kids of high income parents in their primary and secondary education. University-run basic schools are always above average because the professors’ kids attend them!
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