…For the past 3 years JSS III students do not take their qualifying examinations in July as it is supposed to be. This year, the qualifying examination was conducted in September…
…Schools that lack ordinary chalk, should not even be talked about when it comes to the use of library and the availability of the laboratory equipments and samples for practicals, among other instructional materials; yet free WAEC, NECO and the possibility of JAMB free examination…
The Periscope Global Findings
Mary remains at home still sleeping in the morning. It is Monday, many students are going back to school. Woken up, Mary said she had spent the night watching movies, knowing that she would be free in the morning because she and her colleagues are yet to be admitted into the senior secondary school; they are still waiting for the JSS IiI qualifying examination results.
The male colleagues have found the waiting period befitting for friendly football matches morning and evening. The public schools and/or the government ought to provide scholastic alternatives in the waiting period for the movies movies and sports not to drain their brains while waiting to be admitted few weeks to the end of first term.
What Happens?
Those students that finished JSS 3 are yet to be admitted to SSS 1 because Adamawa state Resource Centre is yet to finish marking the qualifying examination for the Junior Secondary Schools to process the successful students’ admission to the Senior Secondary School of their choices.
We are now in November and all JSS 3 students in public schools are at home. If perhaps the SSS qualifying result is be out by November ending, it will mean that the qualified candidates will have just 3 weeks of the 1st term. No make up for the missing week; gone for the unfortunate good. Where lies the political will in uplifting the standard of education with these avoidable of lapses?
It is gathered that for the past 3 years JSS III students do not take their qualifying examination in July as it is supposed to be. This year, the qualifying examination is conducted on 18/09/2023. The examination scripts are then forwarded to Education Resource Centre Yola to be redistributed, by means of swapping, across the three zones of the state for marking.
The exams booklets from the northern zone are left at the central zone, while that of the central zone are sent to the southern zone and the ones from the southern zone taken to the Northern zone.
A source disclosed that the Resource Centre has zonal offices. The heads of the zonal office, on receipt of the examination booklets, will then contract the marking to some teachers within the zones.
On completion of the marking, the results along with the booklets are then sent back to the headquarters in Yola, the state capital for further processing before they are finally released to various JSS.
If the qualifying examination are taken in July, it is likely that the results will have been ready by September and the candidates will have been in school by 1st week of October. However, the JSCE qualifying examination was conducted on the 18th to 22nd September, 2023 and the results are yet to be released.
This is the painful picture as it is, not painted about the public schools, in addition to a rather unimpressive development following the state government declared free education, where the head teachers or principals as they are called – the seriously concerned ones though – will have to cough out money from their monthly salaries to procure chalks.
The N600 hitherto collected as Parents-Teachers Association levy, now proscribed, It is gathered, was used in most of the schools to recruit part-time teachers owing to the manpower constraints in the public schools. “Schools that lack ordinary chalk, should not even be talked about when it comes to the use of library and the availability of the laboratory equipment and sample for practicals, among other instructional materials.
“Now schools are without teachers because the employment, as was talked about, is more or less a lip service. Students are not adequately taught to be able to effectively pass the leaving school examinations, yet the state government is busy wasting rather than spending money on WAEC, NECO, in addition to consideration by the governor to intervene in the JAMB examination, when students are not fully prepared by means of capacity and capability to be able to pass such final examination, a head teacher of a school in rural area lamented.