30th April, 2012
The Lagos State Government has lamented the poor performance of students in the state’s public secondary schools in the last West African Secondary School Certificate Examination, WASSCE.
Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, disclosed this at a ministerial conference at the weekend, saying that the government was shocked and disturbed by the development.
She said that between 2007 and 2009, the students recorded improved performance in WASSCE, but noted that there was a sudden decline in students’ performance in 2010/2011 session.
“This strange decline has become a source of concern to all stakeholders in the education sector and in deed the state.
“As a result of this, several meetings were held, where it was agreed that there was an urgent need to look into the immediate and remote causes of this negative development and also come up with immediate and long term solutions to these problems.
“The meeting came up with the fact that students, parents/guardians, teachers and policy makers must work together to arrest the situation and chart a new course for education development in the state,” she stated.
She stated that a stakeholder’s meeting was held where it was resolved that no student would be allowed to write the October/November Private Candidate Senior Secondary Examination/National Examination Council, NECO.
“In order to ensure this, a screening test will be administered during the period of the October/November WASSCE. This screening test is a new strategy of the ministry to ensure that our students are ready for the mock examination.
“With this, we are sure of the candidates being presented for final examinations. Government shall no longer be responsible for payment of WASSCE fees of any SSS3 student who fails the screening test,” he said.