Govt debunks allegation

There is palpable tension in Ekiti State as some parents have threatened to stage a public protest to register their displeasure over the alleged abysmal failure of their wards during the last common entrance examination into secondary schools in the state and the manner the examination was conducted by the state’s Ministry of Education.

The parents further noted that the results of the examination, which was written between July 1 and 3, were unnecessarily delayed by the Ministry of Education.

However, the state’s Commissioner for Education, Dr. Olabimpe Aderiye, in a statement, faulted the parents’ over their grounds of allegations, noting that they got it wrong as they have been misled and have a misconception of the results.

Investigation

The parents, who claimed that the situation has generated tension in both public and private primary schools, have demanded a thorough investigation by the governor in order to determine what transpired during the conduct of the examination leading to the poor results.

Besides, they have also called on Governor Biodun Oyebanji, to set up a Panel of Inquiry on what they described as, “the questionable mass failure in the examination,” alongside audit and re-marking of the pupils’ answer scripts.

A visit to some of the public and private schools in Ado Ekiti, the state capital city and its environs by our correspondent, revealed that the matter has become the trending discussion among the teachers and students as well as the public.

Trouble started on Tuesday September 17 when schools across the state resumed for the new academic session. It was on the same day that the results were released and when the news of the release of the results filtered into town concerned parents hurried down to their wards’ schools and only to be confronted by what they described as disappointed results when they noticed the mass failure recorded.

It was learnt that the anger and frustration of some of the parents especially those, whose children sat for the examinations in public schools, is the fact that their children are left stranded and are not likely to be placed in any school for their Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1.

Another sour point for the parents is also the fact that the initial certificates given to their children were withdrawn by the education ministry following errors of spellings in the grade awarded them that was detected in the certificates earlier issued to them.

For those that had Grade A Distinction, ‘distinction’ was discovered to have been miss-spelt and they said it was taking the education authority months to correct the error and return the certificates back to the students.

Parents speak

A concerned parent, Mr. Sanya Ibuoye, condemned the Ministry of Education for it alleged: “Tardiness and playing lottery with the future of the innocent pupils,” stressing on prompt investigation of what he described as an “unacceptable scandal” by the officials of the ministry.

Another parent, Mrs. Iyanuoluwa Ayegbusi, called on Oyebanji to constitute a panel to dig deep into the alleged “shoddy handling of the common entrance exam.” She also demanded for an audit of all the answer scripts.

Mrs. Ayegbusi also demanded the re-marking of the scripts by independent and competent officials, calling for all officials found culpable to be punished in accordance with the extant rules and regulations.

Commending Oyebanji for his notable achievements in the education sector, she said the alleged incompetence of the officials of the ministry could have negative effects on the efforts of the governor to sustain Ekiti’s prominence in education.

According to her: “At first, we were scandalised that the results, which were supposed to have been released before now for the pupils to know their placements, were released on the day of resumption, putting those who chose public schools in a state of confusion. “As if that was not enough, the mass failure of the exam is unacceptable.

In my child’s school, they usually ask the pupils to tick the answers they chose on their question papers, which will be examined during revision, making each pupil know what he/she scored in the five subjects. “My child cannot score zero in a subject, I reject the purported result released by the ministry.

We, the parents, are calling on Governor Oyebanji to set up a Panel of Inquiry to look into the mishandling of this exam. We also demand the audit of the answer scripts and their remarking by independent and competent examiners because many parents here are complaining of this mass failure.”

Another parent, who craved anonymity, criticised the Ministry of Education, for what he called: “Serial gaffes and professional misconduct,” noting that the common entrance certificate of his daughter, who is now in JSS 3, is yet to be released.

Govt’s position

However, the government in its reaction, debunked the allegations of the parents, stating that there is nothing like mass failure in the results released by the Ministry of Education.

This is as it disclosed that 16,167 out of 16,361 public primary schools pupils, making 97.43% and 10,675 out of 10,859 (97.28%) pupils of private schools in the state passed the 2024 Common Entrance/Placement Examination contrary to some media reports of purported mass failure and claim by some of the parents.

In his detailed analysis of the candidates’ performance, the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Kofoworola Aderiye, stated that 16,361 pupils were examined out of the 16,593 that registered while 232 were absent, adding that 2,235 (13.47%) of the candidates scored between 200 and 299; 11,493 (69.26%) had between 300 and 399, in addition to 2,439 (14.70%) that scored between 400 and 500.

Aderiye, who noted that there was no problem with the performance of the pupils, stressed that the issue is about the capacity of candidates’ schools of choice and the respective cut-off marks.

She added that the preference, concentration and insistence of some parents and guardians for certain schools, particularly the newly established Model Colleges and some schools considered reputable is creating the logjam.

According to her, the insistence of the parents and guardians that their children and wards attend the preferred schools led to having too many candidates than the schools can accommodate while several other schools have spaces not yet filled.

Reiterating the commitment of the Oyebanji-led administration, to the provision of free and compulsory qualitative education up to Senior Secondary School level, she stressed that there is no reason for anyone to write off any school, with the volume of interventions and developmental projects executed in all the 203 public schools in the state.

The commissioner further stated that the government’s favourable and proactive policies are aimed at providing accessible, affordable, qualitative, functional and sustainable education for enlightenment and enterprise, using emerging technology.

Dr. Aderiye assured that education in the state is now standardized as all the schools are equipped to provide quality education for their students, adding that schools that may hitherto had less than good reputation have been transformed to global standard, with conducive teaching and learning environment.

According to her: “Government is partnering with reputable organisations, including the World Bank, using programmes like the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), Innovative Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) amongst others.

“Nine hundred and thirty subject teachers were recruited in public secondary schools between 2022- 2024; 131 staff employed for the Board for Technical and Vocational Education (BTVE) in 2024; 150 security guards engaged to strengthen security in public secondary schools in 2023 and 43 Education Officers appointed in 2024 to enhance efficiency and boost service delivery.”

She further stressed that the target is to ensure quality and functional education through sound policies and implementation, using e-learning, whole school monitoring, provision of conducive environment and regular capacity building of personnel for optimal learning outcomes.