Why some 2024 NECO, WAEC candidates may not get admission – NSSEC

The Executive Secretary, the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) Iyela Ajayi has disclosed that about 40 percent of candidates who sat for the 2024 National Examination Council (NECO) may not be admitted into tertiary institutions due to failure in English and Mathematics.

He said likewise the 2024 West African Examination Council (WAEC) Examination, about 28 percent may not gain admission into tertiary institutions for the same reason.

He stated this yesterday in Calabar during a five-day Capacity Building Workshop organised for Selected English Language and Mathematics Teachers within the SouthSouth geo-political Zone.

He explained that about 61 percent of the NECO candidates had five credits and above including Mathematics and English while about 40 percent could not pass both core subjects, a situation that called for concern.

While describing teachers as the backbone of any educational system, Ajayi further stated that they should not be neglected in welfare, training, and retraining.

He added that without having a beautiful curriculum, state-of-the-art facilities, and infrastructure, trained teachers, the educational sector would suffer.

“There is no doubt that there is a teacher problem in Nigeria in terms of quality and quantity, this is why as a commission we lay emphasis on the training and retraining of teachers especially in the two core subjects,” he said.

“Teachers are the backbone of any educational system so if you neglect the teachers and their training you have neglected education which will become counterproductive.

On his part, the Cross River State Commissioner for Education, Senator Stephen Odey, said the training would be very important to the teachers because most of them have not had the opportunity to be trained since they were employed as teachers due to paucity of funds.

The Commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Emmanuel Ikade, commended the commission for deeming it fit to organise the training of teachers, adding that it would equip the teachers with new skills.

One of the resource persons from the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof. Samuel Nneji said the training is apt.

Nneji noted that it was unacceptable that about 40 percent of Nigeria youths who left secondary schools last year could not access admission into tertiary institutions because of lack of credit passes in English and Mathematics.

He commended the commission particularly the Executive Secretary for injecting new life into the commission by organising such training to empower teachers and impact positively on the younger ones.