Israel Adeniyi, a 14-year-old student of Crowe Schools International, a private school in Iwo, Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, completed the objective aspect of his English Language exam before 12 pm on May 28 and looked forward to the essay segment in the next few hours.
His expectation was not only delayed, the Nigerian branch of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) handling the exam almost postponed the paper until the next day without a prior notice.
The essay paper had been scheduled to start at 3 pm but the supervisor did not show up until it was almost nine o’clock at night.
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Parents were panicking at home. The phone line of Adetayo Alli, director of the school, received multiple calls from parents who had been waiting to see their children back home.
“My parents’ house is not far from the school,” said Adeniyi. “But some parents were forced to our campus to pick their children, fearing for their safety.”
The student said the supervisor explained that WAEC had recalled the questions earlier planned for the exam because of leakages and he had to return to pick the new question papers from Osogbo.
Parents were worried sick and the delay disoriented the students, but they had no option. They had to write the exam under that atmosphere.
Adeniyi explained that the exam started at 8:15 pm and ended at 11:15 pm and he almost missed his Geography paper scheduled for 9 am the next day “because I left late the previous night and woke up very late the next day”.
On Monday, WAEC released the results of that examination. Students and education stakeholders received the much-anticipated news with visible relief and they immediately began to check their results via WAEC’s dedicated portal online.
“My scores in other subjects were very good, but I scored a D7 in English. I was disappointed,” Adeniyi told FIJ.
“My parents were also disappointed. They are encouraging me to combine it with my NECO [National Examination Council] results. But I am still unhappy because combining two results could reduce my chances of getting my preferred course of study in the university.”
For candidates like Adeniyi from Osun, what many of them got as results was a shock. FIJ spoke to three school owners and two students for this story.
WAEC IS THE PRECURSOR OF THE FAILURE
“It is nothing to write home about,” said Ismail Lateef, registrar of Arinola Metropolitan Grammar School, another private school in Iwo.
“We suspect foul play.”
When FIJ spoke to Lateef on Wednesday, he had checked almost 20 results of students from his school and “none of them passed English”.
“Some had E8, D7 and some F9. But their performance in other subjects was awesome,” Lateef added.
The case of Arinola Metropolitan Grammar School is just one out of many.
FIJ also spoke with Adetayo Alli, director of Crowe Schools International situated along Bode-Osi Road, Agbowo in Iwo.
WAEC scheduled the exam to be held between 10 am and 3 pm on May 28. As is the practice, students would be at their examination centres long before the scheduled time in anticipation of the exam.
Unusually, WAEC delivered assessment materials late. Many students had gone home while a few waited as their instructors kept assuring them that the exam would go on regardless of the materials’ arrival time.
“My students did not start their exam until 8:45 pm and managed to finish it at 11:45 pm,” Alli told FIJ on Tuesday.
“WAEC unimaginably compromised these students’ [exam].
“I know of some school owners who had asked their students to go because they did not believe the supervisor was not going to come only to call them back at night to come and sit the exam.”
At Crowe School International, 67 students wrote the exam on May 28 like their counterparts countrywide. So far, Alli had checked the results of 25 candidates and only four scored an acceptable C6. The other 21 failed.
At Bowen University International School, many candidates were not spared the consequences of the late arrival of materials. FIJ learnt that a particular student scored eight As in other subjects but failed English.
A teacher, who asked not to be named because they had no authority to speak publicly about the matter, told FIJ on the phone that the school community was dumbfounded.
“Our students are brilliant and we have a demonstrable track record to back this up. The scores allocated to our students are not a reflection of their energy and academic excellence,” they said.
“How do you explain that a candidate scored 8 As, some scored a mix of As and Bs and then failed English? Basically, all our candidates failed English. It is bad as it is damaging.”
WAEC’s inability to dispatch writing materials to many public and private school centres in some states became scandalous in May. Clips of students writing their exams at night with the aid of torches went viral on social media.
With decaying public school facilities, candidates were already disadvantaged and the absence of electricity, fans and modern learning devices made the midnight exam an avenue for poor outcomes.
Curiously, WAEC claimed it employed the delay as a measure to maintain “the integrity and security of our examination”.
“While we successfully achieved our objective, it inadvertently impacted the timeliness and seamless conduct of the examination. Despite our best efforts, we encountered logistical hurdles, security concerns and sociocultural factors that negatively influenced our operations,” said WAEC Acting Head of Public Affairs Moyosola Adesina.
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“In order to forestall future occurrences of this nature, the council is currently collaborating with security agencies. We recognise the importance of timely conduct of examinations and the impact of this decision on the candidates, their schools and parents, and we sincerely apologise for any inconveniences caused.”
Federal lawmakers debated the plight of these WAEC candidates at the House of Representatives, describing the delay as a “failure of leadership”. It remains to be seen what action the government would take.
When contacted, WAEC spokesperson said press statements had been issued about the matter in April and a few days before the results were released and asked FIJ to make use of them.
FIJ checked WAEC’s website and social media handles at press time but found no press statements addressing the English exam fiasco in Osun.
The post WAEC Forced Osun Students to Write English Exam at Night. They Got Poor Grades appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.