By Oji Odu
Teachers in Lagos state public schools are living in fear. They are afraid of attacks from their former Senior Secondary (SS 2) students who failed their promotional examinations into SS3 recently. The students who had protested the massive failure in some schools, dropping charms at school gates, have vowed to take it more personal with some of their teachers.
What were the sins of the teachers? Did they not teach the students well enough to pass their examinations? Did they, in other ways, contribute to their failure? Are the students showing the society what it has turned to?
The Source’s visit and findings at Ajegunle Senior Secondary School, along Ikorodu road, Lagos, which was relocated to Mile 12 due to the flood problems in Ajegunle, revealed that for the pro-activeness of the school principal and authority, the students would have been among those that protested and vandalized school properties.
Getting wind of plans by some of the involved SS2/SS3 students not only to disrupt school activities, but to vandalise property and pour ‘water’ in the staff room if they failed, the principal was said to have made haste and reported the plans to Ketu Police Station.
The Police have been at alert ever since to avert any violence. He also called for an emergency meeting with all parents of the students, mandating them to write an undertaking to take responsibility for their children/wards actions.
In a chat with the Magazine, a parent of one of the students known simply as Taiwo, was full of regrets at what the society has turned the students into. “Although I praise the Lagos State government for the free education for the children, I fault the system in the area that does not allow them to be punished for most offences.
“ In this school, I learnt that the said SS2 students are notorious for gross disobedience, and they always go Scott free for most offences committed. Do you know that the other day, I learnt that a female teacher came to teach them and they walked her out, while booing at her, singing and drumming on their desks? What is the world turning into?,” he asked.
Confirming the story, the Magazine further learnt that students from the said notorious stream of SS2 stopped their biology teacher and some others from giving them notes after teaching.
A student who craves anonymity told the magazine: “They said they are tired to copy notes, and would rather make their own notes. Sometimes, they can decide and pretend to be sleeping if they don’t want to learn so as to force the teacher out of their class. Some of them were among those that failed.”
In his reaction, a teacher in the school who also does not want his name in print said they cannot do much about the situation because they are careful not to discipline the students so as not to go against what the state government says.
“I am here to teach, and I try very well to do my best. Any child that wants to learn, it is left for him or her. We teachers are also careful with these children some of whom have allegedly joined one cult group or another. Otherwise, how can they threaten to pour ‘water’ (or acid) in the staff room?,” he asked
He regretted that parents are also heavily to blame for this lapse. Which child fails examinations these days? “Parents are ready to pay some compromising teachers to make sure their children pass exams. That is why they can protest when they fail even to the extent of shamelessly threatening hell and brimstone, even barricading the school entrance with charms,” he added.
Determined to reduce the promotion of ‘incompetent’ pupils from SSS II to SSS III, the Lagos state Ministry of Education implemented a new policy. The policy states that for a student in SSS II to be promoted to SSS III and for the state to pay the West African Examination Council fees, the student must pass the third term examination, especially mathematics and English language.
Besides passing English and Mathematics, the scripts were also taken to different schools for marking and grading, contrary to the previous method where a cumulative of first, second and third term results guaranteed promotion.
The new method, the Magazine learnt, resulted into mass failure in some of the secondary schools, especially schools in Education District III. This led to the statewide protests by the affected students who vandalised the schools and threatened their teachers and principals.
At Alaro Community High School, Epe on Friday, the protesting students locked out the teachers and others. When the teachers and other students got to the school in the morning, they discovered fetish substances at the gate. They included a dog head attached to other animals’ bodies and a red cloth tied to palm fronds. The red cloth was spread on top of the gate while the dog head and other fetish substances were placed under the gate.
It took courage from some of the teachers to remove the charms while praying with their Bibles and Koran. “If anybody wants to protest, let them go to Alausa. Don’t bring it to Alaro. We are not the one that failed them. Go and meet the Commissioner of Education. Why should they come and put ‘juju’ to kill other pupils and staff here?,” a teacher said while removing the charm.
Speaking on the development, the Public Affairs Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Kayode Sutton, regretted the situation he described as rather unfortunate.
He said: “Generally, there is a benchmark for pupils in Lagos public schools that nobody should go below. It now happened that the majority of schools in District 111 fell below the benchmark and most of the affected pupils felt that the benchmark should be reduced to favour them.
“They agitated and did whatever they did contrary to the rules governing the conduct of learning and education in Lagos State. When there is a benchmark, it has to be strictly adhered to.
“If any pupil fails to meet up with the benchmark, the pupil deserves to fail or repeat the class. In that instance, the schools did the necessary thing. The pupils will not dictate to the schools or government. This is not a witch-hunt. It is not that we don’t want any pupil to proceed to the next class, but we want the best for them and the state.”
James Akin, an educationist, expressed sadness on the unfortunate development. He rather queried the reason why the state government had to wait until after the long vacation for the SS2 students to sit for their promotional examinations.
“ Was it a method of purposely making some fail? If it was, it is indeed regrettable. I don’t think it is right. This fracas could have been averted if the exams were taken before the holidays. This is not the right way of training our future leaders.
“These are children and could easily be irrational in their behavior. Remember, these adolescents are passing through a period of storm and stress. They need to be guided properly to adulthood. Let us not dent their life by our actions, and let policy makers stop exposing the teachers to unnecessary problems and dangers,” he said.
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