50% Pass English & Mathematics says NECO

THE National Examinations Council has released the November/December 2014 results with the examination body saying there is remarkable improvement when
compared its previous examinations.

The results show 52.94 per cent credit pass in English Language and 55.37 per cent credit pass in Mathematics.

Registrar and the Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Prof. Promise Nwachukwu Okpala, while announcing the results at the council’s national headquarters in Minna, Niger State, on Wednesday, noted that the results were an improvement on the previous exams conducted between 2011 and 2014.

Okpala said that 63,445 candidates registered for the examinations, out of which 61,386 actually sat for the papers with 30.57 per cent of the candidates recording five credits and above.

An analysis of the other core subjects showed that 53,848 candidates sat for Biology with 26,947 pass credit level, representing 50.04 per cent; Chemistry had 28,250 candidates with 14, 858 pass at credit level, representing 51.62 per cent; 28,222 sat for Physics with 57 pass at credit level, representing 0.20 per cent.

Also, 1,753 candidates sat for Further Mathematics and 395 passed at credit level, representing 22.53 per cent; and Agricultural Science had 41,080 candidates with 12,006 pass at credit level, representing 29.22 per cent.

The registrar said 620 cases of malpractices were recorded. Okpala urged students to shun all forms of examination malpractices, saying the council had consistently made attempts to eradicate examination malpractices.

Pledge to restore discipline, revitalise learning at FSTC

Says school’s workshops in comatose
A RECENT visit at Federal Science and
Technical College (FSTC) Yaba, Lagos, revealed that the school is undergoing slight infrastructural and human transformation.

If only government and corporate bodies would liaise with the college, the new Director/ Principal, Chris Ugoji, said the culture and excellence, which unity schools are known for, would be restored.

When The Guardian sought the view of Ugoji, who is also a Director at the Federal Ministry of Education, in his Yaba office, he said the school’s infrastructure was in a sorry state when he assumed duty, but for the intervention of Parents Teachers Association (PTA).

Worse among all are the school’s workshops, about 12 of them, which he said, are up to standard compared to those in tertiary institutions but lack electricity to power the machines.

According to Ugoji: “When I assumed duty, I didn’t like what I saw, there was total indiscipline among the students coupled with the issue of inappropriate dressing, such as flying of shirts and wearing of slippers.

All these had been tackled heavily because they are not in the culture of unity schools.
“So, as a team, we agreed it cannot be
business as usual. We decided to inform the PTA of our mission to restore discipline because where there is indiscipline, there would be chaos and where there is chaos, academic activities will suffer.

Secondly, we discovered that some students are not paying school fees, and so we have introduced measures to ensure that students pay fees and every other thing and it’s been successful so far to the glory of God.”

He continued: “We have 12 workshops in FSTC Yaba that can compete favourably with any of the universities in the country.
These workshops are used to service 19 trades, although they are very powerful, but electricity to power them is a
major challenge.

So, we are seeking for assistance/partnership to power these
machines so that the workshops can be used to teach students and also to service the need of the country in technical and vocational education.”

Ugoji further stated that in the area of
infrastructure, the PTA has helped in decking the female hostel and also installing CCTV in the college, which has helped to improve the security so far, adding: “They also assisted with
classroom furniture, water, clinic, among
others.”

However, in spite of these shortfalls, Ugoji
hinted that the students’ academic prowess still gleams. He said: “At the yearly general meeting of
Federal Unity Colleges (FUC) held at Ilorin, the score card of FUC was made available an FSTC Yaba came overall second in the area of NABTEB. We also did exceptionally well in West
African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO).”

To achieve the objectives of the technical
session of the school, he said: “All we need to do is revive the workshop and power the machines. We already have competent, qualified, seasoned, administrators and members of staff
who can on their own head any school in this country.

We need facilities as we lack adequate infrastructure needed to impart the right skills and knowledge in a science and technical school.”

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