By Maria Famakinwa

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Reactions have continued to trail the recent decision by the Federal Government to expel students in Senior Secondary School classes 1 and 2 who sit for the external West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the National Examination Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB).
While justifying the decision, the Federal Government explained that students who are involved in the practice found it difficult to settle down for serious studies. “They become unruly and distract other students from achieving their goals. Any student found writing the above examinations in SS1 or SS2 classes will be expelled from the college. All students must write these examinations after they have been duly registered for the examination by the college.”
The Hope spoke with some stakeholders in the educational sector to get their reactions.
In the contribution of Ondo State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Commrade Victor Oladele Amoko, he described the Federal Government’s decision as a welcome idea and added that it would have positive effects on the falling standard of our educational system.
Commrade Amoko, who explained that the age of students play an important role in education said that to maintain a good standard, age must not be compromised. He said,” to attain enviable height in our education system, we must work for standard and to achieve standard, age of students must count. For the Federal Government to have come up with such a decision, it would have weighed the advantages and the disadvantages.
“Recently, some newly admitted undergraduate students were asked during matriculation the full meaning of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) but they did not know it. If preventing SS1 and 2 students from sitting for external examinations will help to improve our educational system, it is a welcome development. Those who are professors today did not graduate at age 19 or 20 as most parents now want it.
The idea of forcing SS1 and 2 students to write external examinations should be blamed on greedy parents. Allowing students to write external examinations in SS3 will better prepare them for the task, because they would have acquired the necessary knowledge to help them scale through the examination,”he said.
In the submission of a public school teacher, Mr Oluwaseun Adetunji, he said that he was very happy with the decision, adding as he added that it will go a long way to address some of the problems facing the country’s educational system.
His words:”This is the best decision so far taken by the Federal Government regarding our educational system. It will help to address the issue of producing half baked graduates and improve the standard of our education. Registering SS1 and 2 students for external examinations is against the ethics of education, and it prevents the students concerned from acquiring the full knowledge required in the syllabus to become secondary school certificate holders.
“Most parents should be blamed for this development. Once, they notice that their children who are in senior classes are above average, the next thing they do is to force them to sit for external examinations. Some of the parents, after approaching the school to register their children who are not yet in SS3 for external examinations and the school refused, will take them to private schools to achieve their aims. If their children eventually make their results through crooked means, they will not bother to complete the remaining one year in secondary school but start seeking admissions in higher institutions. No matter how good the students are, the one year they skipped in secondary school will still affect their learning. The decision will help our educational standard to improve if the Federal Government is serious about it,” he said.
Sharing a similar view, a private school teacher, Mrs Folukemi Aina, who also blamed the issue of skipping SS3 class by students on the parents warned that if the Federal Government does not back up the decision with action, a time will come when there will be no SS3 class again.
Mrs Aina who disagreed that private secondary schools were responsible for registering SS1 and 2 students for external examinations said,”not all private schools indulge in the act. Some still maintain the standard. For instance, some private schools do not believe that students who performed poorly in the school examinations should repeat while others will deny such students promotion. I really support the Federal Government’s decision to stop students who are not in SS3 from writing external examinations. It will help to discourage examination malpractice and the so called special centres where any Dick and Harry can register and sit for external examinations. It is a way forward for our educational system if the Federal Government can sustain it. Parents also should be educated against forcing their children to sit for external examinations when they are not in SS3. They should know that it is not how far but how well,”she said.
Also, a parent and educationist, Mr Fola Akinlolu, condemned the act of registering SS1 and 2 students for external examinations which he described as a five steps backward. The man who described education as the bedrock of any society lamented the current situation of the country’s educational standard and said that the Federal Government’s decision to expel SS1 and 2 students who sit for external examinations across the country is long overdue.
His words:”In the late 80s to early 90s, there was nothing like students skipping next class and moved to the other, it was never heard of. Today, the reverse is the case. Parents are so impatient that they want their kids in nursery one promoted to primary 3. This is the bane of our educational problem. Today, we are producing many graduates who can not make a simple and correct sentence. If SS1 and 2 students are sitting for external examinations, how will they make up for the subjects to be learnt in SS3? These are the challenges we are facing in our education sector. Now that the Federal Government has taken this important decision, it should be obeyed to the letter and any erring management should be adequately sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others. We all must support the Federal Government’s decision to save our already collapsing educational system. We cannot continue running our educational sector the way it’s going without destroying our future and affecting the coming generations,” he warned.
In a different reaction, a parent, Mrs Janet Akinlaja, explained that the decision of the Federal Government to expel SS1 and 2 students who sit for external examinations was taken without considering the interest of the students. She argued that we are in a fast world and everybody including students must move in that pace.
Her words:” I do not support that decision because we have some students who are older than the class they are. For instance, I do not see anything wrong if a 20-year old SS 2 student, who is brilliant sit for external examinations. After all, some students are graduating in the university at the age of 21. There should be exceptions to that decision, otherwise, it will be a set back for some of the students.” she said.
Another parent, Mr Badmus, wondered why the Federal Government is coming up with the decision now when a lot of students have sat for external examinations in SS2 and made their results.
He said,”my take is that if students are allowed to sit for external examinations in SS2, it will help to prepare them better in SS3 for the same examinations and help them to concentrate more on the subjects they have deficiencies in their first attempt. This will also save the students from wasting useful time at home, because they will be able to combine the two results for admission instead of waiting for another year to re-sit the examination. It is a pride for the country to be producing young graduates, after all, some students are graduating at the age of 18 or 19 in foreign countries. We should also be aiming higher,” he said.