JAMB UTME calls for higher cognitive ability than what is needed for WASSCE, but candidates are made to confront this test before they sit for WASSCE.
BY PETER OGUDORO
The poor performance of candidates in this year’s JAMB UTME should be examined with care so we do not throw away the child with the bathwater. True, most candidates for this test are usually poorly prepared for it. Most of the candidates for UTME are not aware of the syllabus for this test which is significantly more demanding than the syllabus for WASSCE. Secondary schools focus on WASSCE, not UTME, but most of the candidates for UTME are currently in their final year in secondary school.
The average Nigerian child in secondary school is being taught by teachers who are poorly trained, recognized, and rewarded and who are working in a grossly under resourced education system with poor laboratory equipment. Teachers over focus on getting students ready for exam and not helping them to learn and be truly educated.
There is little or no attention paid to helping students understand the knowledge they are consuming. Many teachers do not even understand what they are teaching and cannot demonstrate how the concepts they present to students can be applied to real life situations. Students are not helped to acquire analytical ability and the capacity to synthesize knowledge which UTME requires.
To make matters worse, we require them to prove what they know via computer. We know that most of the candidates sitting for both WASSCE and UTME have not studied in schools where computers are in use as standard tools for teaching and learning. The argument that they need only a few keys to respond to the questions in the test is not tenable. Digital devices come with phobia. You get better with them as they become familiar.
If scientific investigation is conducted into the last UTME, we are likely to realize that significant infrastructural challenges bedevilled the test. So, some candidates might have performed poorly despite having the right subject knowledge.
The argument that students are distracted by social media is one no one should dismiss with a wave of the hand. Yes, many students are on social media at the expense of their studies. Why is that the situation?
Many of them do not find academics meaningful. Most of our classrooms are not engaging. Most teachers lack the pedagogical tools to make students find joy in learning. Parents, teachers and schools worry a lot about the need for students to pass exams so they can get the credentials for further education and meal tickets in an environment where many employers still hire on the basis of academic credentials, not the problems people can solve. Education has also been discredited in a country where school dropouts become political masters and money bags.
Many students are searching for income on the internet so they can put food on the table for their families and pay their school fees in a country where public schools have been discredited.
As a researcher in the global education industry, and a parent myself, I know that students can be trained to use their digital devices to study and pursue honourable purposes. Teachers are not omniscient. They should be facilitators in their classrooms.
Students can be trained to use their digital devices to learn from a global audience and become more creative and innovative. The campaign against phones in schools should be done with caution. In the world we live in today, both teachers and students need digital devices to be productive and globally competitive.
If we are willing to try, we can train our teachers and students to use their phones productively. I achieve this in all the contexts where I have played teaching and education leadership roles.
We should quit the habit of dismissing things we do not understand. Humility demands that we seek help when we are in need.