By Mohammed Lawal
Zaria (Kaduna State) – Mrs Dipe Bola, Education Board Chairman, First Baptist School, Sabongari, Zaria, has identified influx of “WAEC miracle centres” across Nigeria as a bad omen that crippled education and a bleak future for Nigeria.
Bola spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of Speech and Prize Giving Day of First Baptist School, held at the premises of the school in Sabongari, Zaria, Kaduna State.
She observed that miracle centres had adverse effects on Nigeria as a nation, adding that the negative consequences had affected all sectors of human endeavour.
“For example, if a child obtains good grades from a miracle centre he or she can not defend it, they are the type of students that are withdrawn from higher institutions after gaining admission.
“The best for our children is for them to marry their books, read hard and pass examination of any kind and get absorbed into universities to read courses of choice without fear of withdrawal or anything,” she said.
Bola said that what was obtainable in schools in the 70s in public schools were no longer in practice now, saying, “it is a pity when I go to the school that trained me, Army Children School, what is obtainable then is not obtainable now.
“Government is not doing what is expected, even the teachers who are qualified to serve are not given the opportunity and we the parents are failing on our side too.
“When you look at our secondary schools now, after training a child in a school and such child gets to SS II, some parents remove the child and opted for a miracle centre for his or her WAEC.
“At the end, the child is helped to pass the examination and gets to higher institutions. before you know it, they will have problem.
“This is because they failed to complete the basic education needed as the certificate they are using is not from their own strength and the end result is withdrawal,” she said.
Bola noted that present day students were not interested in reading, which is an important aspect of scholarship.
“None of the students today would be able to read a novel of possibly 100 pages, but they wanted things to happen just like that.
“That reading habit is no longer there and they want everything to just happen like that which is not possible.
“We will not get the best out of the system and it’s telling back at us, the youth now are very rebellious.
“People who are supposed to be given the rightful position are not given and when you give it to the person who is not ripe, you won’t get positive results.
“Let’s assume I have a medical doctor who is not well fit, definitely you know what will happen and it could happen in any sector and it could happen to anyone of us.
`A wrong prescription was given to one of my students, if not because the father infirmed us that gave the child is allergic to that drug, possibly we could have lost the child,” she said.
On falling standards of education, Bola advised government to do the needful to salvage the dwindling standards of education.
(NAN)