The Chief Executive Officer at the National
Mathematical Centre (NMC), Prof. Stephen
Onah, has blamed dismal performance of
students in WAEC and NECO examinations in
successive years on unqualified teachers in
Mathematics.

Onah said this in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday
in Abuja.

He said that school proprietors draft non-
professional teachers into teaching senior
secondary students Mathematics for such
important examinations.

According to him, another factor
responsible for poor performance of
Nigerian students in Mathematics is the
high standards maintained by WAEC and
NECO with unqualified mathematics
teachers teaching the subject.

“The other factor is that because there are
no enough hands to train students in this
discipline persons from different areas of
study even outside science-based areas are
brought to teach the subject.

“Because the WAEC and NECO which are of
international standard will not lower their
standard because Nigeria has not enough
hands or qualified teachers to train its
students.

“They will always maintain their standard
and so if we are not living up to that
standard, that explains our poor
performances,’’ he said
The professor held the view that when the
number of teachers is not equal to that of
the students’ population effective teaching
becomes a problem.

He called for an increase in the incentives
given to mathematics teachers, saying lack
of motivation for teachers in critical
subjects such as Mathematics is very
common in nation’s system of education.

Onah lauded the efforts of the current
government at improving the quality and
methodology of teaching at the different
strata of education in the country, especially
primary and secondary schools.

The professor noted that there has been an
improvement in both quality and quantity
of teachers in Mathematics in the past two
years, but said a lot more can be done to
shore up students’ performances in WAEC
and NECO.

“This is because there is some recognition;
the teachers are beginning to see that they
are being recognised for their work and
they are putting in their very best.

“Again the centre in its own way has been
putting up programmes to facilitate the
teaching of mathematics,” he said.

He said the centre had developed
mathematics modules on how best the
subject should be taught and learned and
this would be used throughout primary and
secondary schools in the country.

“We have also produced a good number of
textbooks in their simplified form which, if
used or recommended at both the primary
and secondary levels the learning of the
subject would be better than what it is
now”, the professor said.

Source:- Dailyschoolgist