Minister blames teachers for candidates’ failure in public exams

Posted by admin Education, Headlines, Ministries Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Minister of State for Education, Mr Kenneth Gbagi, has blamed teachers for poor performance of candidates in public examinations in the country, saying, “teachers are not doing enough to educate their students.”

Gbagi declared in Minna, Niger State, on Tuesday, that, “from my point of view, it is not government that has failed; we have provided all the requirements schools should get to pay teachers’ salaries; we have paid allowances to teachers so it is their duty to mentor the students for proper examination not government.”

Gbagi, who made the declaration in an interview with newsmen after his maiden visit to the National Examination Council (NECO) national headquarters, was categorical that, “teachers need to improve in their duties. Failure in exams has nothing to do with government; government has paid its dues; government has done its responsibilities. We must chastise the teachers to do their job.”

The minister conceded that there were low quality of infrastructure across Nigerian institutions but said that government under the present regime had “provided books for the first time in the history of this country to every child in this country.”

On the closure of schools for the voter registration, Gbagi said the ministry would amend the school calendar to ensure it did not affect the completion of the school syllabus, adding that NECO should aspire to meet the world standard in the performance of its duties.

The Registrar of NECO, Professor Promise Okpalla in an address, said that the permanent site of the institution from where the organisation was operating now had not been connected to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) power line and lacked supply of water.

-Tribunewp_posts