Averting Students’ Poor Performance In English, Mathematics

Following the poor performance of students in English Language and Mathematics, the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) between last Thursday and Sunday organised a  training programme for teachers in the two core subjects in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The 116 articipants at the training programme were drawn from the north- central states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who was represented by the commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajiya Saadatu Modibbo- Kawu declared the training programme open.

In his welcome address, the executive secretary of NSSEC, Prof Benjamin Abakpa, said the commission  was kicking off the first edition of reskilling of teachers after pilot testing of the manuals on difficult concepts in English Language Language and Mathematics with teachers from selected public and private schools at FCT.

“ This workshop becomes imperative because of of the poor performance of learners, most especially in the two core subjects. The essence of the workshop is to identify the difficult concept in English Language and Mathematics and proffer   possible pedagogical skills to tackle the menace facing the learners and take them from not knowing to solving equations and putting tenses together correctly,” he said.

In her goodwill message, the chairman of NSSEC, Ambassador Nimota Akanbi, noted  that the performance of students in English Language and Mathematics in the external examinations has been consistently poor.

She charged the resource persons at the training programme to simplify the teaching methods of the two core subjects for the teachers who will in turn do the same for their students.

Akanbi praised Governor AbdulRazaq for his commitment to training and retraining of teachers in the state.

Declaring the programme open, Governor AbdulRazaq thanked the commission  for choosing Kwara as the host of the training programme.

He said the state had invested a lot of resources on the education sector in the state, especially on training and retraining of teachers.

The governor noted that the novel KwaraLEARN scheme has impacted greatly on teaching and learning in schools in the state.

Speaking during a visit to the Federal Government Girls College, Omu- Aran in Irepodun local government area of the state, Ambassador Akanbi expressed the federal government’s  commitment to providing the required Infrastructures and facilities needed to improve learning and teaching in the nation’s Unity schools.

Akanbi was in the college to assess the state of the newly renovated Biology and Agriculture Laboratories, a pilot project of the commission.

Akanbi said the project, which would be replicated across the 112 Unity schools nationwide, was part of the federal government’s efforts towards ensuring that teaching and learning was in tandem with best acceptable international practices and standards.

Mrs Kyase Samuel, the Principal of the college, in her remarks, expressed the students, staff and management’s appreciation to the federal government for the recognition accorded the school through the projects.

“We cannot thank you enough for facilitating this laudable initiative of the federal government to be piloted in our school.

“We are also using this opportunity to assure you that the project will be given the desired priority and maintenance in order to achieve the set objectives.

“Like Oliver Twist, we are also appealing to you to use your good office to facilitate more of these laudable projects for the benefit of our students,” she said.

The Emir of Ilorin, Alh Ibrahim Sulu Gambari  praised NSSEC for  repositioning the secondary school education for global competitiveness.

The Emir said  that the training programme would also improve the performance of teachers and students particularly in handling external examinations in core subjects like English language and mathematics.

Gambari commended and thanked the commission for bringing the  5 – day training workshop to Ilorin.

In a communique issued at the end of the training programme, it was recommended that States Ministries of Education   should encourage senior secondary schools  principals to sponsor teachers to attend WAEC/NECO examinations coordination training.

It further recommended that the Federal Ministry of Education and States Ministries of Education should provide and equip Language/ Mathematics Laboratory in all senior secondary schools, and as well mandate public and private schools to have a unified data base that will enable them track leaners that do not merit promotion from moving from one school to another.

“Since the commission is concerned with challenging area in mathematics and English, Test of oral English Language as well as Transformation in Mathematics should be included in the manual;

SMOEs advise that preference should be giving to English and Mathematics teachers in the subsequent employment of teachers. Examination bodies to monitor schools all external examinations and sanction magic centres; NERDC and ERC to review the recommended text books for Mathematics and English Language to match the examination bodies standards; and

FME/ SMOEs to produce and distribute concrete object for teaching of English Language and Mathematics,” the communique added