Hassan Ayomide, a year two pupil of Lagooz College, Lagos, was in a pensive mood on Friday, July 4. He and his colleagues were sitting for the first Unified Examination of the Lagos State National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools with anxiety written all over their faces.
The 12-year-old might be a little sweaty, but he was confident of his ability to pass. “I feel a little bit nervous. I am writing four papers today but I am sure that I will scale through. I passed my National Common Entrance Examination and I think this one should not pose a challenge,” he said.
Ayomide was one of the 11,698 pupils who sat for the examination on July 4. The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination was an attempt by the NAPPS, a body of over 2,000 private schools in Lagos, to expose pupils to the rudiments of sitting for examinations such as the West African Examination Council, Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examinations, and others.
According to the NAPPS Lagos State chairman, Mr. Yomi Otubela, the examination, which cost the association over N25m, was tailored “with the sole aim of preparing, testing and getting the pupils used to the pattern of examinations they would face during their year of graduation from the primary and secondary schools.”
Otubela referred to the incessant mass failure in key subjects such as Mathematics and English in external examinations. For instance, statistics from the WAEC shows that 80 per cent of the candidates who sat for the 2012/2013 examinations failed these key subjects. During the same year, just 10 students scored above 300 marks, while 801,804 candidates scored below 200 marks.
The NAPPS chairman seemed convinced that exposing students to questions from independent bodies over time has the potential of reversing the failure in key subjects.
The chairperson of the Unified Examination Committee, Mr. Wande Majekodunmi, said the examination had the advantage of engendering healthy rivalry among private schools as each school and its teachers would endeavour to complete the curriculum as the examination approaches.
Our correspondent noted that the examination, which involved 80 private secondary schools and 260 primary schools across the state, was conducted in a professional manner. Pupils were issued with examination numbers and earned certificates after the examination. External examiners were members of the examination committees selected from various NAPPS chapters in the state.
Each chapter also has a distribution centre where examination papers were circulated to various examination centres. In each examination centre monitored by this reporter, different schools were in attendance, while an invigilator was assigned to 30 pupils.
The chairperson, Agege Chapter, and proprietress, Rahman Private School, Alhaja Ramotallai Ogunmuyiwa, told our correspondent that the examination was conducted in 12 centres in Agege. She was also of the view that results of the examination could be used for transfer purposes among member schools.
An official of Periscope Security and Safety Company, Mr. Jeremiah Ashayan, said his organisation was in charge of quality control, preventing leakage and the safe transportation of question papers across centres.
Otubela said the Academy Press, which printed the examination papers, would also be involved in the monitoring and evaluation process. “We will have to evaluate the examination at the end of the day. Where pupils have failed, we will organise seminars, workshops and trainings for the teachers. Then, we have to find out if the methodology of teaching is responsible for the results or if the problem is structural.
“For instance, the ongoing World Cup could affect the degree of attention pupils pay to their studies. Even teachers could be carried away by the euphoria. We are going to engage in performance comparison from chapter to chapter. We will be comparing pupil to pupil and teacher to teacher,’’ he said.
Though plans for the NAPPS examination had been in the pipeline for a while, the examination still grappled with the teething challenges of a novel idea. In some centres at Agege, examinations did not get underway until 9am. The chief invigilator at Rahman Private School, Mrs. Maryam Adeyemi, said though supervisors were around by 7am, the question papers did not arrive from the distribution centre on time.
At Bright Hope Comprehensive College, another centre in Ogba, the chief invigilator, Mr. Augustine Awuje, complained of a degree of confusion during the distribution of the examination scripts. Awuje, who is also the principal of the school, was not comfortable that pupils from different classes sat in the same examination hall.
“The supervisors are very ready and we all attach great importance to the examination. If we are going to have primary six pupils in a class, let it be that way. The confusion will be less that way,” he said.
At Mind Builders School, Ikeja, the question papers arrived early and the examination commenced by 7am. But the proprietress, Mrs. Bola Falore, pointed to errors in the packaging of the question papers. “Some question papers were not complete and we had no extra copies. Some shading papers were also missing and we had to make photocopies,” she said.
About 18 schools participated in the NAPPS examination out of the 26 schools registered with the association in Ikeja. Falore, who is also the chairperson of Ikeja chapter, attributed the development to skepticism on the part of parents.
“You know, it is a new idea. Some people are early birds and some are not. Some parents said they liked the idea but would like to see how it goes,” said Falore.
It was also observed that pupils from various schools pay different fees for the examination. While some paid N4,000, others paid N2,000 or N1,500 as the case might be.
While the original fee of the examination was N1,000, Otubela said schools were allowed to charge the pupils according to their peculiarities. “The cost of the examination is N1,000, but we gave room for member schools to charge according to their needs. If teachers have to come on Saturdays to provide extra lectures in order to cover the syllabus in some schools, that might mean extra income for the teachers,” he said.
A professor of Public Administration, Mr. Ladipo Adamolekun, has also hailed the NAPPS examination, saying it is a step in the right direction.
“I think it makes sense. I welcome anything that enhances merit. We should support anything that helps students to perform better. If that approach will promote excellence, then it is okay. It is similar to what Governor Kayode Fayemi introduced in Ekiti State in 2011. All year 11 pupils across the state were made to write a uniform examination as a sort of guaging how they will eventually fare when they write NECO or JAMB. It helps to reduce the patronage of miracle centres and also puts teachers on their toes,” he said.
However, a professor with the Faculty of Education, Lagos State University, Ojo, Mr. Ademola Onifade, has described the actions of the Lagos NAPPS as unnecessary. According to him, the examination would put an undue stress on the pupils and participating schools.
“Students should be allowed to go through their school years without unnecessary stress. Give them a free hand and they would be willing to study hard. I don’ think the examination is necessary because of the logistics and pressure it would put on the pupils.
“I don’t subscribe to the view that it would make them perform better. What the schools need is quality and committed teachers and good learning facility,” he said.
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