Adeyemo Taiwo
A lecturer and legal practitioner in Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Dr. Wole Efunga has said that mass failure in higher institutions is a tripod.
Dr. Efunga disclosed this in an interview with Press Club MAPOLY.
He identified the three major players contributing to mass failure in higher institutions as the parents, the government and the students.
According to him, he lamented how the reading culture of students has waned, and all they do is to pursue pleasure, spend a whole lot of time on their phones engaging in frivolities.
He said that such ample time can be spent in engaging in academic activities that boost their academic performances as there are lots of academic packages and documents they could access online but, in his words, “all they do is to waste their time watching films, playing games and all sorts.”
Dr. Efunga affirmed that parents on their part do not encourage their children to read going as far as enrolling their children for special centres so as to pass their examinations.
He said some parents go to the extent of buying exam questions for their children with all these preventing them from studying, hence; contributing to mass failure.
On the part of the government, he said, “Many students graduate with good grades but end up jobless. While some wish to attend school but due to lack of financial capacity from their family to support them, they end up not going to school. While those who are fortunate to gain admission are faced with environmental and transportation challenges which prevent them from focusing on their studies.”
Also, he decried how some lecturers exhibit lackadaisical attitude to teaching, adding that they hardly put in their best to lecture the students, contributing to the drop in academic performance.
He said, “There are some lecturers who will not even come to lecture room more than once or twice in a semester, and they are expected to show up for twelve to fourteen weeks.”
Dr. Efunga stated that while there are some lecturers that are diligent, hardworking and punctual to school, the government should do the needful by monitoring the activities of those lecturers who don’t go to class regularly.
“If the government do the needful, this problem can be solved. There were periods that government agencies go round to interrogate students on their academic performances, attend lectures to monitor lecturers performance, and report to the monitoring team for appropriate action but I don’t think that still exists, as such, needs to be restored.
“If government could look into the causes of mass failure, then it will get reduced to the barest minimum,” Dr. Efunga said.
