NAPPS recommends unified private school exam

THE National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has said its unified end-of-session examination would help expose the strengths and weaknesses of teachers.

The deputy national president of the association and proprietor of Lagooz Schools, Lagos, Mr Abayomi Otubela, said this last week while monitoring the examination conducted in 40 schools across Lagos State.

“This is the third edition. The idea behind the examination is to forge a united association. But it is also an avenue to assess the teachers in terms of their input into the students.

“The examination is set by carefully selected West African Examination Council and National Examination Council examiners. The questions have passed through different quality checks. The grading is devoid of influence. Imagine a situation where a particular teacher is the classroom teacher and home teacher, he would be the one that would set the questions, mark the questions, grade the pupil; this may happen from primary 1 to Primary 6. Now if that teacher is getting it right, then it is good for the child.

“But what if he isn’t getting it right? This examination would be able to correct that in time. It would expose the strengths and weakness of teachers, students, and even the school systems, because there will be healthy rivalry among the schools. A teacher may earn himself or herself promotion or pay raise based on the performance of their students.”

Otubela also said the system would compel teachers to complete their syllabuses “no matter the circumstances,” since they would not be able to know what topics would be covered by the examination.

He however disclosed that this year’s exercise recorded “a very low turnout”, with just a little over 1000 pupils participating, down from 9000 candidates recorded last year – a development which he attributed to “the economic condition of the country.”