Following the decline and poor performance recorded in the results of the 2018 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination released recently, educationists have expressed concern over the negative contributions of technology to the high level of failure among the candidates who sat for the examination.
There has been a decline in performance by the candidates from 59.22 per cent in 2017 to 49.98 per cent credit passes and above, this year.
The council’s Head of National Office, Mr. Olu Adenipekun, had said the 49.98 per cent represented 786,016 out of 1,572,396 candidates, who sat for the examination passed.
They pay less attention to WAEC these days. They believe they do not have to work hard to pass WAEC these days. We have a lot of dubious websites in town. They have access to these; you do not have to read, just pay money and you will access the questions with answers
“858,424 other candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language, but without Mathematics,” Adenipekun had added.
But educationists across the country have contended that the development must have arisen from the effect of technology, especially Information Communication Technology on the students.
They argued that the distraction caused by ICT has led to a drastic reduction in the reading habit of students, leading to a decline in their performances in examinations.
A University of Lagos don in the Department of Psychology, Prof. Bamikole Fagbohungbe, noted that technology had become the medium for perpetrating examination malpractices, as its impact had made students to neglect the culture of reading and become less serious in their studies.
Fagbohungbe expressed regret that students now rely heavily on the various dubious websites offering them answers to examination questions for a fee.
“Technology is causing more harm than good. Whatever we do with education, one will succeed. Do they believe education is a means to an end? Do they also believe they can succeed without education? They pay less attention to WAEC these days. They believe they do not have to work hard to pass WAEC these days. We have a lot of dubious websites in town. They have access to these; you do not have to read, just pay money and you will access the questions with answers. You go in there and put down the answers without the foundation. Some are genuine, some are not; the moment students fall into the hands of the fake ones, they begin to look lost in the examination hall. They put down the answers they know and when the result is out, they fail,” he said.
The university don also noted that certain psychological and sociological factors had been affecting students with many of them having the wrong notion that the relevance of education had declined.
He, however, stressed that education equips the society for the various challenges ahead.
Fagbohungbe said, “We have psychological reasons, parental reasons, social reasons, everything mixed together. The psychological reason has to do with the student themselves. How do they see education? What is their mentality?
“Sociological angle is another factor. I have a niece living with me who believes she does not need to read to pass WAEC. She believes she does not need Mathematics and English. I told her she would be saving me my money since I would not have to send her to the university, if she does not meet the requisite requirements. The peer influence is another cause. A school behind me allows their students to bring technical equipment; they will be playing songs like ‘One corner.’”
The don emphasised the need to monitor children’s performance in schools as it was done in the past in order to raise the standard of education in the country.
“Education is very important, we should be serious with it. Unfortunately, our leaders will not be bothered because they have stolen enough money to send their children abroad. Parents have to be involved in educating children and so also are the people, the church, the mosque and all non -governmental organisations. We need Olympic solutions; parents should go back to playing the monitoring role, the supervisory role. We must constantly counsel the youths of today. We need massive education by government and everyone involved in education.”
Speaking in the same vein, the Registrar of the Kwararafa University, Wukari, Taraba State, Mr. Joshua Sangari, blamed the declining performance and failure of students in examinations on the negative effects of technology
on them.
Sangari said, “The reading culture of children these days has declined. With the advent of computers, iPad, everything has gone electronic. Children now spend more time on their iPhone and on their iPad.
“Naturally, the standard of educations is failing, it is going lower; the majority of schools with the highest number of students are public schools. Public schools at both the state and private levels are not performing well because teachers are not being paid and their welfare at not catered for, especially at the primary and secondary level. No training or retraining, same thing in and out. This has reduced the quality of
education.”
