Education
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The result of the candidates who sat for the November/December National Examination Council shows improved performance in English and Mathematics
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Feb. 16, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE outcome of the November/December 2014 examinations conducted by the National Examinations Council, NECO, showed that candidates recorded a significant improvement compared to previous examinations conducted by the body. The released results show that 52.94 percent of the candidates got credit in English Language, while 55.37 percent got credit in Mathematics.
Promise Nwachukwu Okpala, registrar and chief executive officer, NECO, while announcing the results on Wednesday, February 4, at the council’s national headquarters in Minna, Niger State, noted that the results were better than the previous exams conducted since 2011. He said that 63,445 candidates registered for the examinations, out of which 61,386 actually sat for the examinations, while 30.57 percent recorded five credits and above in both English and Mathematics.
An analysis of other core subjects shows that 53,848 sat for Biology with 26,947 credits representing 50.04 percent, Chemistry had 28,250 candidates with 14,858 credits, representing 51.62 percent, and 28,222 sat for Physics with 57 credits representing 0.20 per cent. Also, 1,753 sat for Further Mathematics with 395 credits representing 22.53 percent, while Agricultural Science has 41,080 candidates with 12,006 credits representing 29.22 percent.
According to Okpala, an analysis of the malpractices showed that 620 cases were recorded during the examination, an increase in NECO exams. He urged students to shun all forms of examination malpractices, adding that the council has consistently made attempts to eradicate malpractices.
The registrar, while expressing satisfaction at the improvement by candidates, noted that the trend indicated that efforts by President Goodluck Jonathan and all other stakeholders in the education sector to improve the quality of teaching and learning in secondary schools were yielding positive results. He called on all Nigerians to support such laudable efforts and ensure high quality teaching and learning process in schools, the ultimate aim of which, he said, is to actualise the educational agenda of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda.
According to him, the role of promoting quality education through the conduct of selection and certification examination is a mission within the core mandate of NECO. “To this end, we have steadily improved the quality of various stages of the council’s examinations, from pre-examination to the release of result, in order to check examinations malpractices, which pose serious challenge to quality examination delivery in Nigeria,” he said.
Okpala said this is an improvement in the exams as a four-year analysis of candidates who obtained five credits and above including English language and Mathematics shows that in 2011, 1.77 percent of candidates passed, in 2012, 13.40 percent credit pass, in 2013, 28.62 percent credit pass, while in 2014, it improved to 30.57 percent. He expressed gratitude to newsmen for their partnership and unflinching support towards promoting quality education in the country.
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Tags: examination malpractices Goodluck Jonathan National Examinations Council NECO Promise Nwachukwu Okpala quality education
