Statistics from the Federal Ministry of Education Nigeria reveals that approximately 60-80% out of the total 100% that sits for O’levels examination in Ekiti State fails Mathematics and English Language since 2006. It is so pathetic that the state that is popularly referred to as the “Fountain of Knowledge” has fallen short of expectations because this is the state that is expected to lead the nation in terms of education and academy. Mass failure of O’level examination especially Mathematics and English Language therefore hinders and stands as a major factor why many students in the state are unable to with their education and secure admission to tertiary institutions especially university in the nation. Mathematics and English Language are the two most important and compulsory subjects in secondary school and JAMB curriculum, they are a major requirement for admission into institutions of higher learning in Nigeria.
Our research and statistics revealed that mass failure in these two subjects do have a significant negative effect on most students that do fall victim and there family members, such negative effects include; idleness, immoral acts, societal-unacceptance-mentality, parents hating/disliking their children (commonest amongst illiterate parents), failure mentality (that makes them believe they can not make it) and the likes. Further research reveals that mass failure of these subjects and other O’levels examination subjects is very prominent in rural communities.
We discovered in our research that over 80% of students in rural communities in Ekiti State do not have 4-figure table, mathematical sets and other mathematics equipments. This we discovered might be one of the major reasons why many students in this rural communities fail Mathematics considering the fact that Construction and Geometrics which Mathematical set is been used for carries 12 marks while Statistics which requires the use of 4-figure table is also 12 marks! Imagine a student losing whole 24 marks just because he/she lacks the material needed…
Our research also suggests that students in rural communities failed these two subjects and other subjects as well because;
• Students do not understand what there teachers are teaching them
• Most students find it very hard to ask questions in class due to unfriendliness or wickedness of some of their teachers
• Most teachers either do not teach their students in details or do not spend quality times teaching their student while most of them in rural communities do not show up in school.
• Some students in rural communities do not go to school often. Some of them prefer going to farm or other places during weekdays.
Most of the teachers we were able to reach and interview in the rural communities also complained that students do come late to school or they do not come at all, this they said makes work difficult for them! They stress further that most of these students in the rural community would have gone hawking early in the morning before coming to school, by the time they get to school they would have gotten tired and most of them might be sleeping in class especially when there teachers are teaching them.
PROBLEMS THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO TACKLE
This project therefore seeks to address and tackle the following problems;
1. Mass failure of O’levels and JAMB examination subjects especially Mathematics and English language in Ekiti State.
2. Negligence of duty by teachers in rural communities and truancy on the path of students.
3. Waste of fund and resources on O’level and JAMB examination.
4. Idleness, peer pressures all other immoral acts that may arise because of failure.
5. Inability of students to gain admission into the higher institutions of learning.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
To decrease the annual mass failure of mathematics and English Language by at least 50% at the end of 2015 in Ekiti State.
To enlighten students in the rural communities of Ekiti State on the values and roles of education in the society and their life as well.
To sensitize students, teachers and parents of rural communities of Ekiti State on the importance of 4-figure table, mathematical set, textbooks and other learning materials.
To test the ability of students and prepare them well enough for the exam.
To ensure that parent, teachers, students and all other stakeholders in the rural communities of Ekiti State play their role accordingly in ensuring academic success.
To encourage more students have and use 4-figure tables, mathematical sets and textbooks.
To break the long teacher-student fear and enmity barrier so that they can both relate, this we hope will enable students learn better from their teachers and they will also be able to speak out their minds and also ask questions on areas they find difficult instead of keeping mute.
To revive and restore the lost glory of education in Ekiti State.
To give Scholarships to at least 500 students who cannot afford payment of O’levels examination annually.
BENEFICIARIES OF THE PROJECT
Secondary school students in Ekiti State are the targeted and primary beneficiary of this project while parents and teachers in rural communities are the secondary beneficiary.
This project is going to be of great help to the students in the rural communities of Ekiti State because it tends to build courage in them, boost their knowledge especially in mathematics and English language, reduce the annually recorded mass failure and instill confidence in them. We hope this project can help students in rural communities speak simple and correct English as there colleagues in cities.
We also hope that this project will help reduce the stress and much pressure been placed on teachers in rural communities as a result of their students’ mass failure because this project is designed to help reduce such.
Parents also are going to benefit greatly from this project because it is going to reduce the burden and pressure that incur due to the children’s failure. It is also going to reduce wastage of money parents spend in registering their children for examination annually.
Students and parents who cannot afford to pay for O’level examination are also going to be greatly benefitting from this project as we hope this project will provide scholarship for the payment of WAEC/NECO examination fee for about 500 students in the rural communities of the State.
CONCRETE STEPS OR MAJOR ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN TO MEET THE OBJECTIVES
Since the birth of this project in 2010, various steps have been taken, for us to meet our objectives. We started by writing proposals to the governmental bodies, NGOs, Private Organizations and individuals. In Ekiti State, we wrote proposals to the Ministry of Education and Teaching Service Commission to inform them of what we are planning and to solicit there support so that they can release some schools at strategic locations in the state for us so, that this schools can serve as centers for our planned tutorials. We intend to zone each locality into many zones depending on how big and the population of the community is, this will make it easy for students to have quick and easy access to the nearest center to them.
Proposals on partnership were also written to different organizations in the state, which includes Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship, Ekiti State Branch, different student associations in all tertiary institutions in Ekiti State that has to do with Mathematics and English language in bid to raise volunteers who will join us in teaching these two subjects free of charge.
We thank God who has been crowning all our efforts with good success as our proposals are receiving favor.
