NECO AND POOR SCORING OF CANDIDATES

By
Information Nigeria
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RECENTLY at a workshop for markers of answer scripts, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the National examination Council (NECO), Professor Promise Okpalla, admitted that there were noticeable lapses in the marking and scoring of students in its last examination. In his words, “We have had cases of candidates who lodged complaints on their results only for us to discover after remarking that there were sharp differences in the scoring between the two gradings.”

THIS can only happen where due diligence was not carried out at the marking venue. The workshop which was held in Minna, Niger State, was organised for markers of answer scripts as a part of the review process of the June/July Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE).

WE thank NECO for admitting that there were problems with its organisation of the SSSCE.  This admission of responsibility is significant because for many years, students have had issues with the results that were released for them by the examination bodies, including those by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). As a result of the waning confidence in the assessments offered by these bodies, universities have introduced post-UTME screening and examinations to determine prospective candidates’ eligibility for admission to university programmes. NECO has blamed the mistakes on those that were engaged to mark and score students that sat for the examination. This is not good enough.  There are more fundamental issues involved in the situation that NECO must attend to.

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NECO must realise that there are likely to be many more students who were affected by the poor scoring than the few who were confident enough to formally protest the results they received as not reflecting their performance. The open admission of responsibility and willingness to redress these grievances by NECO will encourage more candidates who think they are inappropriately scored to seek redress in future. This means that NECO may be inundated with several complaints if it does not take fundamental and effective measures to address the issues associated with poor grading of scripts in future examinations. Naturally, those with genuine grievances but who were not confident enough to complain have lost time, effort and money because of the irresponsible conduct or incompetence of those employed by NECO to grade the scripts. Besides, it is improper that students would have to protest after taking the pain to work hard, before they can achieve a fair grading of their script.

TO address the problem of poor scoring by those who mark  scripts, NECO should review the process of recruitment and remuneration of the markers.

NECO relies on teachers in secondary schools across the country to grade scripts.  They are usually organised and coordinated in a decentralised arrangement.  These process, though reasonable, is fraught with a lot of challenges.  The first challenge is to ensure that only competent teachers are allowed to participate in the grading of scripts.  Given the level of degeneracy in the education system, it cannot be taken for granted that every secondary school teacher with graduate qualification can grade scripts meaningfully.  NECO must review its recruitment process.  These pose both administrative and financial challenges.

IN the first place, NECO is reputed for paying its markers very poorly. For instance, teachers marking scripts in Mathematics for the ongoing NECO May/June SSSCE are paid N7, 112.5 for 250 scripts. This is broken down as follow: N8.25 per script marked, coordination allowance, N1,900, transportation N900 and a “lump sum” of N9.00 per script.  This is not realistic given the cost of transportation as the teachers are expected to report several times at the marking centres for vetting by their team leaders. The teachers are expected to complete the marking in two weeks.  Even this paltry sum is not paid promptly.  There are several cases where after grading the scripts, the teachers had to wait for over a year before they were paid. Because of these, some competent and diligent teachers shy away from participating in the grading of NECO scripts. Some who take the job are not committed.  Indeed, some even give the marking to their supposedly “smart” students or relatives.

ALTHOUGH NECO has promised not to relent in its responsibilities to render quality service to the general public through assessment, it must realise that it is under scrutiny because it has not met public expectation. We recommend that it completely reviews the marking of the June/July examination to ensure that candidates get fair scores for their effort. Apart from screening prospective markers (examiners) to ensure that only competent and experienced teachers are engaged, NECO must ensure that examiners are adequately remunerated and promptly paid. Those who prove unreliable or incompetent should be blacklisted from participating in the grading of scripts in future.

Source: Nigerian Tribune

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28 COMMENTS

  1. now the hav understand that the problem is not from student. Are the going to remark our result. The have course many thing to me. i lost my admission last year. You people should help us and remark the result i am sure of my result.GOD WILL BLESS U ALL

  3. I sat for last year NECO Nov/Dec exams only to see my results completely failed. It was a day of mourning to me that I couldn’t sleep for days. It’s still a misery to me because I gave my best to see that I pass that exam, knowing fully well that it’ll will mar my hard secured admission.
    I’m using this medium to call on NECO to be very careful with student scripts. Imagine a situation where one has concessional admission as in my case! It’s suicidal. I’ve written another one and now hoping to see my results cleared.
    Mike.
    sos dpt, UNIBADAN.

  4. Last year when i sat for neco all what i did on my script was 90% assure of my work.Suddenly, when i went to cybercafe, where i go to check my result.I was totally suprised for my result because i thouth i whould made credit in all my subject but, reality i made pass in it.So therefore,i beg neco organization should please mark my this year script judicious.

  5. i promise never to write NECO again in my life for what they did to me after i prepare for my exams i sat for my WAEC with all my effort after which i did not relent, i kept on reading to get more good grade in my NECO than my WAEC only to be disappointed with my NECO result which they positioned me on 3Cs including maths and 6Ds i can swear to any oath that i wrote my NECO far better than my WAEC but my WAEC result was twoA&B distinction 2c4s 2c5s 1c6 it not too late for them to re-post our real result even if i have to write ssce again i not i mean never in life set for NECO exams after our hard effort they still paint us black

  6. i hate NECO for what they did to me after i prepare for my exams i sat for my WAEC with all my effort after which i did not relent, i kept on reading to get more good grade in my NECO than my WAEC only to be disappointed with my NECO result which they positioned me on 3Cs including maths and 6Ds i can swear to any oath that i wrote my NECO far better than my WAEC but my WAEC result was twoA&B distinction 2c4s 2c5s 1c6 it not too late for them to re-post our real result even if i have to write ssce again i not i mean never in life set for NECO exams after our hard effort they still paint us black

  8. Oga oo neco. U av destroy many student ambition bcos of ur mis conduct. I can still remember then when our class teacher wil cal us 2 mark neco and waec script due 2 d effort render is far more dan d reward. Pls sir, just make dis year neco 2 a wonderful 2 save many souls and future ambition dat is ahead of many students. Thanks

  9. Neco i thank u very much 4 d mess u gav us instead of our result, u failed me all my subjects except biology, last 2year u gav me 4 credit, maths, english, chemistry, biology…… Physics d7, nw last exam u failed me in all subjects, nw i wrote dis present one, lets c hw ir will b, gv us our good result many of us wrote post ume, and admission list is out, we nid our result. Nxt year our younger ones will b writin, dont mak us join dem any longer. Have a nice day neco.

  13. Neco,you have done something great to me.Something so great that i cannot weep neither can i laugh.You made me work without getting a fruit.I have done neco three times without compromise to its rules and regulation with deligency in studying,but neco had alway rewarded me with failure.I have written the neco again at this time and i am expecting a good result.I want to cease this moment to call on the registrars of the examination since its establishment to join hands together forgetting politics so as to tackle the internal problem facing the examination body.

  14. Thanks alot For all the pain you have caused me, i see no reason why i would write an exam in my school that allows no form of malpractice and come out with a minimum of 3 distinctions, just to end up having straight F’s in neco..i know you would say secondary school exams is different fom NECO but i bet you my results a far better than that rubbish on net…you made my mother come to a conclusion that i am wasting her money and for that i hate you all, you also made me lose my admission to study medicine last year i bet you if that happens to me this year again, my father in heaven will not forgive you……nigeria is a very terrible country, no wonder after 51 years, we are still wandering in the wilderness, don’t you know the lives and future of youths are in your hands? play with them and God will hold you responsible for any frustrated youth that becomes a threat to this country…i urge you all in the name of the God you serve, remark our scripts because it’s not every NECO candidate that has the money to request for remarking…remember, we are not begging you to remark because of pity, we are asking because we all believe it’s our right…most of us are awaiting admissions because we had good results in JAMB that never uses half-baked teachers to mark….the choice is yours…remark and be remembered for good in the lives of youths or leave the results that way so only the elites can go to school while the rest of us have you in mind for ever for the delay and change of dreams…….

  25. Neco plz ave mercy upon dis 2014 nov/dec gce dats going on..please help us..we are only depending on neco now to entre university…..please neco we candidates are pleading please don’t fail us in mathematic and english and also our compulsory subjects please neco

  26. NECO suppose to be sued to court because I wrote Nov/dec 2015 and when I checked my result all was 7C6,1D7,1F9 I am sure of what I did. I am not the owner of that result please if your father na NECO chairman tell him that they should fair God oooo.