DEFENSIBLE C’S ARE BETTER THAN UNEARNED A’S

The issue of ill-gotten grade is a serious cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of our school system. Our universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, post-primary and even primary schools have been turned into grade acquisition centres where people go to buy the best of grades or certificates with parallel “A” scores. This issue though a serious one has not been given the serious attention it deserves. This is because, those who should have fought against the menace of ill-gotten grades are busy increasing the fake grades acquired by students; as such their hands are tied. They cannot deliver one another from the disease that is bedevilling their school authority.

 

The reason why fake grades are spreading like wildfire is that; society seems to be paying too much attention to paper grades. It brands those who possess them as ‘highly intelligent’ without examining them to know how they acquired such grades. Surface it to say that Nigeria is deteriorating today because we’ve got the wrong people leading in some sectors. These people may be in position through the aid of connection and godfatherism, with certificates carrying parallel A’s or certificates tagged ‘First class’ without the ability to defend them. You may be wondering how this is done, even when students who graduate with first-class results from tertiary institutions usually defend their result before a panel.

Who makes up the panel? Are they not the same unscrupulous lecturers, heads of department and deans who in the first place sold the first-class grades to the students? If a lecturer can be so unethical as to sell grades to a student who offers a little amount of money, what can’t he do to certify the same student if he or she offers a tangible amount? So, not all good grades are genuinely gotten.

It is pertinent at this point to buttress on the effect of these disguised grades. Some students unconsciously mislead themselves by getting involved in unwholesome practices likes,  joining a cult to threaten lecturers, prostituting to afford the ‘grade fee’ and using their school fees to sort as it is generally called. Findings have revealed that some students owe more than two years of school fees not because their sponsors could not afford, but because they use their fees to buy As and Bs. They acquire these grades with empty skills thereby tarnishing the image of their various institutions and jeopardizing the chances for societal growth.

How can a country that hopes for a better future condone such level of irresponsibility? It is high time we arose and revive the Nigerian school system. Let’s call a spade a spade, the student of today are the future leaders of tomorrow and if they keep on relying on purchased grades, who then will rescue this great nation from crumbling? Is it the paper/ unearned As or those that can defend their Cs? To successful tackle this, some changes must occur both in general society and within educational institutions. General education of the citizens on the corrosive effect of acquiring fake grade must occur; consequently, administrators and society at large must fuse efforts to stamping out unqualified grades. It is very necessary and urgent for the committee of chancellors of Nigerian universities to adopt a common and unified approach to solving this problem.

By Ekana Ego Edim