Northerners fail exams because of cultural crisis – Don

The low performance of northern students at national examinations has been attributed to ‘cultural crisis’ in the region.

This was the general view at the 2nd Founder’s Day lecture series of the Sokoto state University held at its auditorium yesterday.

Presenting a paper on: “Educational crisis or cultural crisis writ large in Northern Nigeria: Consequences of indirect rule,” Professor Ardo Von Gajam, described the region’s low performance in education as a cultural crisis.

“It is definitely a cultural crisis because educational crisis is not arrived at simply because pupils are failing exams or because teachers are not qualified or available,” he said.

Professor Gajam also disagreed that the standard of education in the country was falling, saying there was nothing wrong with the educational system arguing that some parts of the country were doing well under the same system.

“If you compare Kano which is a metropolitan state and Kogi which is a rural state, you will see the rural state is doing much better than the metropolitan state. This is because in Kogi the people understand that modern education is a modernizing tool in any society,” he said.

“That is to say their culture and tradition consider modern education as one of the top priorities in their lives whereas Kano people have not mustered enough consciousness to take modern education as part of their culture, because they are left to pursue traditionalism as the colonialists wanted,” he said.

He

therefore recommended that a state of emergency should be declared on education by all the 19 northern governors in order to reverse the ugly trend.

Most of the subsequent speakers upheld his view, with Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal identifying cultural belief, lack of funding and trained teachers as contributing factors to poor performance by northern students.

Represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu, Tambuwal tasked the university to strengthen its faculty of education, assuring them of his sustained support.

Newly appointed commissioners take their oath of office before Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State (right), at the Government House in Damaturu yesterday.