‘Poor preparation, fear, cause of mass failure in Maths’

POOR preparation of students and the fear of Mathematics have been identified as major cause of mass failure in the subject in schools and public examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), among others.

Deputy Director, Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, Mr Dolamu Akindele stated this on Thursday, in Abuja, at the public launch of his book titled: “Rapid Success in Mathematics”.

He noted that because of inadequate preparations, most students dread the subject, adding that the outcome has been persistent mass failure in Mathematics in WASCE, NECO, UTME, among other national examinations.

Akindele said it is a general knowledge that the nation lacks adequate qualified teachers to teach the subject, saying the trend was further compounded by lack of attention paid by most parents to academic activities of their children.

The author said the book was written in a simple and self-explanatory manner to fill in the gaps that would enable candidates come out successfully in Mathematics.

“The lapses that we have in most families are the fact that everybody is running after money other than taking care of their children at home.

“Like my children, I wake them up around 4.a.m when their examinations are coming, and I will sit down with them, give them a question and wait until they solve the problem. But if they didn’t get it, I will put them through.

“None of my children has written Mathematics at any level twice and I tell you if parents could imbibe that kind of culture of helping their children before running after money, you can be sure that we will have a better tomorrow.”

The book reviewer, Mr Olusola Kayode, said the author had realised that Mathematics is one of the subjects students recorded much failure in WAEC, NECO, JAMB, among others, and had offered solution in the compendium.