Osun parents react to state’s 36th position in WAEC ranking.
Some Parents in Osun State have complained about the state’s poor placement in the most recent ranking for the 2021 West African Examination Council (WAEC).
Osun State was ranked 36th out of 37 states registered for the exam.
The 36th place in the 2021 WAEC ranking, according to a parent named Seyi Adeniyi, poses a serious threat to the state’s educational system.
He advised the incoming administration of Senator Ademola Adeleke to form a committee of eggheads to salvage and revamp the crucial education sector while wondering what caused the poor performance.
He expressed regret over the sad development and requested that the administration make an effort to identify the problems and offer practical solutions.
Goke Omigbodun, the owner of a private school in the state, shared the view that the students should have access to hard copies of the subjects that were uploaded into “Opon Imo” tablet of knowledge, which was introduced by the Rauf Aregbesola administration.
He was quick to point out that private schools were excluded from the WAEC ranking criteria, despite the fact that the majority of Osun students attending private schools did very well in the graded WAEC exam.
Adeleke Steven, another local, requested that the state government starts hiring more qualified teachers to fill the void left by those who are retiring.
He urged the state government to refrain from politicizing teachers’ recruitment while condemning the most recent teachers’ recruitment in the state.
He added that the single uniform policy implemented by Aregbesola’s previous administration had a significant negative impact on the state’s education issues.
“The problem facing state education was not a single uniform. There was a lack of teacher training programs and qualified teacher hiring.
“The Aregbesola-called education summit didn’t include any school headmasters, principals, or education specialists and it didn’t solve the problem; it made it worse,”
Some respondents also blamed society and the get-rich-quick mentality of some young people in society for the state’s public education system’s woes.
In response, the Adegboyega Oyetola administration was urged by the Osun Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to apologize to the residents of Osun State for allegedly mismanaging the educational system and leading to the very dishonorable placement.
The party bemoaned the undesirable outcome as a result of the APC-led administration’s lax approach to education in the state.
They claimed that the party abandoned this crucial area to do-nothing propagandists while the proverbial future leaders were having their future inadvertently fogged.
The ranking was part of recent data released by WAEC and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published by data firm, Statisense.
On Saturday, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) also described the ranking as untrue.
Patrick Areghan, WAEC’s Head of National Office dismissed the claims as misleading, false and the handiwork of mischief makers.
He said the report did not emanate from the Council and added that WAEC does not do state ranking.
Areghan maintained that WAEC only indicated the number of credits in subjects and other categories and does not dabble into areas that are not part of its duty as a council.
