Yobe targets 50% WAEC/NECO performance

Yobe State which scored the least aggregate mark, 14%, in the WAEC/NECO examinations in 2015 but took steps that earned it 33 per cent last year, says it expects an improvement that should get it at least 50 per cent this year.

The state Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Mohammed Lamin, said during an interview with Daily Trust, “In 2015 we were the least in the country, scoring 14 per cent. We improved from 14 to 33 per cent last year. This year, we are targeting at least 50 per cent. We’ve done much sensitization even to improve how our children are taught.”

The commissioner who identified Boko Haram attacks and late resumption of school after holidays as some of the factors that harmed performance of Yobe students in the national examinations, said drastic measures had been taken to correct the situation.

“At a time, only 50 of our students who sat WAEC/NECO got results good enough to qualify them for entry into higher institutions. We called our principals and teachers and said, ‘this is not satisfactory, we can’t accept the results that we are getting.’ We intensified our surveillance on our teachers and even students, among other things,” he said. He added that apart from indoctrinating students and teachers as well as parents towards improvement, the state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, had been committing necessary financial resources for the desired improvement.

He said the confidence of attaining the 50 percent target was strengthened when Yobe students defeated students from the 36 states and the FCT to win the first position of the 2017 national JETs competition.