The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu has expressed disquiet over debates around examination results comparison following the release of results of the 2020 West Africa Senior School Certification Examination (WASSCE).
According to him, such unhealthy development contributes partly to the rising incidents of examination malpractices in the country.
In a Citi News interview, Mr. Carbonu said it has become an obsession that is based on the false assumptions that persons who obtain excellent grades in examinations are necessarily better students academically.
“Some of us have difficulty with this kind of comparison that because someone makes an ‘A’ this year, it means that he or she is better than someone who made a ‘C’ last two or three years. So you don’t make that comparison. You are dealing with human beings, you are not dealing with inanimate objects that are static under certain conditions,” he said.
Mr. Carbonu, however, added that students and teachers must focus on their respective roles and do their best to improve learning outcomes.
“For me, teachers should teach well, students should learn well and do the best that they can. We are becoming too obsessed with examination results, and I am sure these [comparisons] contribute to examination malpractices in the country.”
WAEC last week released the provisional results of the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The Council in a statement said the students’ performance in English and Mathematics increased in 2020 as compared to 2019 while performance in Integrated Science and Social studies dipped in 2020 compared to the previous year.
English Language – 48.96% in 2019 to 57.34% in 2020.
Mathematics (Core) – 65.31% in 2019 to 65.71% in 2020.
Integrated Science – 63.17% in 2019 to 52.53% in 2020.
Social Studies – 75.43% in 2019 to 64.31% in 2020.
