BAYO AGBOOLA from Ibadan writes on how politicians politicised the West African Examination Certificate’s (WAEC) pronouncement of delisting over 50 secondary schools in Oyo state for exam malpractices.
The 2023 general elections no doubt, elicits fears which has gripped the politicians and political parties in Oyo state as daily happenings indicate that serious issues like education are being trivialised as they are used as campaign tools to, at least, outsmart one another for the purpose of winning the 2023 polls.
In fact, in Oyo state as at present, the fear of running into this trending political campaign mess is the beginning of wisdom for politicians and their political parties in the state.
The latest of such is the recent delisting of about 50 secondary schools by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on account of established cases of sharp practices recorded during the conduct of the 2022 examinations involving candidates of the affected schools which spread across the state.
Although in a normal situation, the sad news in the education sector in the state ought to have sparked a search for a solution by all and sundry.
But alas! it has been turned to campaign issue among politicians and their political parties in the state, no minding what would become its overall effect on the state, the affected students and their parents, teachers, among others.
How Oyo government reacted
It all started when the Oyo state government, whether deliberately or otherwise, early this week, upon getting wind of the delisting of the affected schools through the state commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Abiodun Abdu-Raheem, vowed that it will sanction the principals and parents of students of recently delisted schools found wanting because of its zero tolerance for examination malpractice.
Oyo state government in warning principals to desist from encouraging examination malpractices which was becoming endemic in both the private and public schools in the state said:
“The Oyo state government has zero tolerance for examination malpractices, therefore, principals and teachers of both private and public schools and parents were earlier warned to desist from any act of compromise on examination malpractices as sanctions would be meted to concerned staff and parents”.
The state government stressed, “only the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has the authority to release list of schools that were identified to be involved in examination malpractices and de-recognise such schools accordingly.”
The commissioner, among others, said, “derecognised schools will not be permitted to present candidates for WAEC for a period of two years” but that “however, this does not debar students of such schools from sitting for the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC), as they are mobilised to the nearest school to write the WAEC; only the identified school is derecognised as a WAEC centre.
“It should be noted that the government of Oyo state will waste no time to investigate any such occurrence, while the necessary punishments as enumerated above will be meted to anyone found guilty”.
The Makinde response
Apparently sensing the looming expected mischievous remarks from his political opponents on his administration, Governor Seyi Makinde at a town hall meetings with stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo federal constituency declared that he has fulfilled over 80 per cent of his campaign promises to the people of Oyo state.
He said, “I know that we have done a lot of projects we promised during our electioneering for the 2019 election. At least, 80 per cent has been actualised but a few things are yet to be done because no system is perfect.
“So, why we want to hold the town hall meeting is to make sure you speak where you feel the attention of the government is needed and we will listen to you.
“We would go back to our manifesto, the ‘Roadmap for Sustainable Development, 2023-2027’, where we have our programmes and policies for the next administration, to ensure that we incorporate whatever you tell us here.
“The Omituntun 1.0 we started in 2019 will get terminated in May 2023 and we will begin Omituntun 2.0 by then and end it in 2027.”
Opposing views
Amidst this ugly unfolding scenario in WAEC, the opposition political parties in the state capitalised on it to launch fresh political attack on the incumbent administration of Governor Seyi Makinde, describing his style of governance in the state in the last 3years as nothing but a great disaster to the education sector, to the the people of the state and the state in general.
In the words of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the 2023 general elections, at the official flag-off of the APC campaign for the 2023 elections, held at Oba Adeyemi III Arcade in Oyo town, last Monday, Senator Folarin minced no words in saying, “under the Governor Makinde’s administration, Oyo state’s education is in comatose. Hence, the need for holistic intervention of responsible and responsive government.
“Under Governor Seyi Makinde-led PDP administration, Oyo state ranked 33rd in external examinations and recently, 50 secondary schools were blacklisted and delisted by WAEC.
“The sad developments were unprecedented in the history of Oyo state. The mosall dailyorrisome aspect of PDP government in Oyo state is the continuous leadership failure characterised by maladministration at all levels as a result of incompetence, state – sponsored insecurity, crippling of local government administration, poor state of infrastructure, consultancy policy in tertiary institutions, growing debt profile, dereliction of duties and among others”.
The All Progressives Congress in Oyo state described the situation as an unacceptable and worrisome downward slope which virtually all the key sectors of the economy, including education, have been experiencing since the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde came on board in 2019.
According to him, this is especially with what the party tagged “the orchestrated delisting of about 50 secondary schools by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on account of established cases of sharp practices recorded during the conduct of the 2022 exit examinations involving candidates of the affected schools which spread across the state.
Oyo state APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, said “the delisting of 50 schools in the state by WAEC was unprecedented as it was a clear manifestation of wrath in the system and the gloomy future awaiting the state if nothing was done urgently to arrest the situation”
He further said, “Little did the people realise that Oyo state had got into the wrong hands when the present PDP administration of Governor Seyi Makinde began to paint a picture of success in the education sector at an early stage when they ought to have outlined policies and programmes capable of improving the standard they met on ground.
“Governor Makinde and some sponsored agents went to town to mislead the world with wrong information.
“At a point, they repeatedly fed the world with lies about people from United Kingdom, United States, Canada, among other developed nations bringing their children and wards for enrollment in Oyo state because, according to them, the superman, the governor had turned all the public primary and secondary schools into ivy league colleges when, in fact, the only thing done was the sensational cancellation of N1,000 per term payment by students in secondary schools – an idea initiated by Abiola Ajimobi administration to aid the laudable activities of the School governing Boards.
“The Makinde administration would do well by saving the public the ubiquitous noise of prompt payment of monthly salary to school teachers when critical infrastructure, personnel training and retraining, effective control and supervision as well as funding are lacking.
“We have also observed that suitable persons are not allowed to run the affairs of the education ministry in the state while the consultant imposed on tertiary institutions does more harm to the system.
“Population of pupils increase everyday but there are no new classrooms as most of the new structures around are either built by the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) or facilitated from Abuja by federal lawmakers and influential individuals like Dr. Yunus Akintunde. Most public schools are with security and hemp-smoking miscreants make incursion at will while teachers and students are exposed to danger unnecessarily.
“Lastly, we urge Governor Makinde to bury the idea of making heads of the affected schools scapegoats because they are not largely responsible for the embarrassing development which portends gloom for the future of our dear state.
“If anything, the PDP administration should blame itself and be courageous enough to immediately organise an Education Summit where all the problems would be discussed and way forward proffered.”
Though, the 2023 general elections is more of the priority before the political class in and across the country with Oyo state not been an exception, the fact remains that despite this, issues bothering on the interest and welfare of the generality of the populace such as education, among others to be accorded enough attention rather than trivializing it and turning it into a campaign thing instead of looking for the much solution it deserves like in the case of the the schools deregistered by WAEC in Oyo state. What becomes of the students of those schools. their future and the plight of Parents, Teachers and Principals of those schools.
2023 general elections will surely come and go in line with the timetable put in place for the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is certain that winners and losers would emerge at the end of the elections next year, but who can predict the fate of the affected students concerning next year WAEC. This ought to be the major issue now rather than turning it to an electioneering campaign matter
