The Nigerian Government this week, hurriedly pulled back from an ill-thought out attempt to restrain graduating class students of senior secondary school level from sitting for this year’s West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Nigeria is part of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) but had unilaterally decided that owing to COVID-19 fears, it would not allow its citizens take part in this year’s examinations. Acting without consultation, and without even attempting to outline safety measures, the Minister of Education pulled Nigeria out of the examinations. Its attempt to exert ‘big brother’ pressure on the sub-regional body was resisted by the other countries constituting WAEC – Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia. Like the rest of the world, Nigeria’s academic calendar has faced disruptions created by the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, while other countries of the world have shown creativity in exploring how best to minimise the pandemic’s effects on their educational system, the Nigerian Government has not been able to come to grips with any plan or strategy on the matter. Very little thought is being put into addressing the problem. The Education Minister, Adamu Adamu was reported to have publicly stated that if he had his way, he would keep Nigerian students at home into the coming year. While there are genuine concerns about how to manage schooling in a pandemic period, stakeholders worry that the government’s response is dictated more by the absence of any clear thinking or ideas or perhaps even lack of concern about the situation.
The Federal Government finally announced August 4 as the resumption date for students in exit classes in secondary schools only. According to a statement released by the ministry, the decision was taken after consultations with relevant stakeholders. It will be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Education had on July 13 released guidelines for the re-opening of schools. Schools are set to re-open to enable students to sit for WASSCE, which commences on August 17, giving them barely two weeks to prepare for the exams, although segments of the exams peculiar to Nigerian students are due to commence in September.