A VISIT to some of the private schools in Lagos State whose pupils sat for the second unified examination last Saturday, showed that although there are some hitches in the conduct of the examination, with time, it will be the envy of other schools in the country who are yet to key into the project.

The examination was organised by the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Lagos State Chapter.

The students were sighted writing their examination quetly in their various schools. The unified examination was introduced in 2014 to improve the standard of examination in private schools in the state. It was also meant to expose students to external examinations, while curbing the failure rate in such examinations, especially at the secondary level.

Former President of NAPPS, Yomi Otubela who took some selected journalists to some of the participatory schools in Agege and Ikeja parts of Lagos, said that the challenges in conducting the examination have to do with their going online.

“Majority of the participating nursery and primary schools are not used to the portal registration, unlike those approved secondary schools fond of registering their students for West African Examinations Council (WAEC)/ National Examination Council (NECO) examination online,” Otubela said. He noted that over 80 percent of schools which participated in the examination found it difficult to do their students’ registration online.

“We called for briefing twice to ensure that they control and correct errors that were associated with the registration. Unfortunately, many of them were very busy that they did not attend.” Otubela explained that while some of the schools were able to start their examination early, others started late.

“We have those that started early. Like those schools in Badagry. At about 6am, I was called by the courier. We could understand that of Agege because they are close to the centre were the questions were distributed. We felt that the courier going far should be able to leave early to beat the traffic situation in Lagos. Many of the candidates paid for this examination and they did not register online only to show up on the day of examination.

“There are even schools that have collected money from students and refused or delayed registration and the portal closed and you see parents coming to make complaint that while other students were writing examinations, theirs were not in the examination hall. This contributed to the situation because last year’s was manually done. The portal that we are using contributed to the logistic problem that we face because many people are yet to key into it,” Otubela said.

He added that next time they will do better: “because we know that the online registration is still the best to control this statistic and data. We begin to see results of the process because teachers now understand that the grading of the students does not rely on them alone. This has made them cover the syllabus to a great extent. We felt that the examination should be used as a benchmark to judge the teachers in their various disciplines.”

He stressed that the examination will increase the standard of education in the state. “We can now speak with one voice and say that this is the circumstance or factor that is affecting education other than lack of infrastructure or good schools.

“We will be able to compare the standard in those highly rated schools and those in middleclass from their output. It is a voluntary thing and it is for those who feel that they will benefit from it to participate. The examination will speak for itself.” He added that the examination comprises Primary 3,4 5,6,Junior Secondary School( JSS) 1,2,3 and Senior Secondary School (SSS) 1 and 2.

One of the custodians of the examination in Agege, Mrs Rahmatallah Ogunmuyiwa said the courier that was supposed to bring the question papers didn’t bring them in time. “ I got to the distribution centre by 6.15 am. So we waited until when they brought the papers. It was when they brought the papers that we were able to send them to all other centres.

“This is our second edition. Things will go up and down but with time, we will streamline. By the next one, we would have taken care of those lapses. The management will have to take care of those things. And the people in charge of typing of the questions and the courier will be advised to come early so that we would be able to start on time. Other centres will face almost the same problem. I am close to where the paper is being distributed and yet I still I have problem,” Ogunmuyiwa said.

NAPPS Chairman, Agege, Alhaji Abduralman Bello said it is advisable for all schools in Lagos State to key into the unified examinations. “It will help us to raise the standard of education in Lagos State. As we are even talking, other states in south west: Ogun, Oyo, Osun are trying to copy us. I will not be surprised next year when they also join us in doing the unified exams because the exams will enable proprietors of schools to actually know their standard. It will also enable the children to be fully prepared for external examinations. Once they are used to this, they won’t be scared to face any external examination,” Bello averred.

He said that the examination will encourage the candidates to do well in external examinations like NECO, WAEC and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination. “The examination does not cost much. We only asked the students to pay N1,500. Maybe in some cases a little about that. We really want all students from primary three to SSS2 to participate. So we have made it affordable for all our children. It is part of training so that by the time they get to SS3, they will be able to do external examinations with confidence. Some of these children they don’t know how to shade the answer sheet for the objective questions very well. If they don’t shade properly, their scripts will not be marked properly. All these are put into training while we are preparing them for the exams.”

The proprietor of Triple Cross Schools, Ikeja, Olufunke Oladunni Gesinde, said the examination was fair despite the few hitches. “But you have to understand that this is just our second unified examination. Subsequent ones will be better than this.

“I think there was a particular thing that we wanted to do to prevent examination malpractices, by dividing the subjects into three types and making sure that three children seated on the same seat are not doing exactly the same subject. That was where the hitch was; we would try and look into it. It is a very good experience for the children, especially the children in primary schools.

“I tell my children that when they are doing an external examination, they don’t have to make noise. Some people wanted to bring some books into the examination hall, I said no. I think we have to publicize the examination more. We should let other schools know the importance. What the children stand to gain. Parents have been asking me the importance and I explained to them. I think we should put more effort to make sure that more schools participate next time.

She acknowledged that some of the children who did not know how to shade were taught how to shade. “One or two of them made mistakes. I am sure that next year they will not make that mistake again. A child who is not exposed to this type of thing will make this type of mistake in an external examination.”