AN INVESTIGATION TO THE CAUSES OF MASS FAILURE IN EXTERNAL EXAMINATION ( EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Educational system in Nigeria is the abysmal failure of students in public examinations, particularly at the secondary level of education. According to Uduh (2009), the high percentage of candidates who failed WASSCE yearly is reflected in the low percentage of the candidates that meets the university admission requirements. The situation is so pathetic that stakeholders keep on wondering why this level of education has persistently failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the society. Apart from the fact that the mass failure of students in public examinations constitutes wastage on investment in secondary education, it puts a big question mark on the quality of secondary education in the country. Each time the results of students in Senior school Certificate Examination (SSCE) are released, it has been a tale of woes and national embarrassment.
Various captions in the dailies point towards mass failure of students in the SSCE. Some of these captions include, ‘79% fail English Language as NECO releases SSCE’, ‘NECO records mass failure in June/July SSCE’, ‘Mass failure in both the WASSCE and SSCE’, ‘Mass failure in public examinations: a national disaster’, ‘Examination failure: endless shame of a nation’. In the past five years, most of the students who sat for the SSCE each year did not have credit passes in at least five subjects including English Language and Mathematics. The situation is getting worse every year.Examinations could be internally or externally conducted. Internal examinations are usually developed and administered by schools using teacher-made tests. These could be conducted on weekly, termly or end of the school-year. External examinations are developed and administered by public examinations bodies. The public examinations bodies in Nigeria include West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), the National Teachers’ Institute(NTI) and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) among others.
