By Ebere Suzy
Anambra state was yesterday declared the leading States in education in Nigeria by emerging the overall best in the 2013 West African Senior School Certificate Examination(WASSCE).
The official WAEC result, made available to the press yesterday, showed that Ghana came first among West African countries while Anambra State came first among States in Nigeria followed by Abia, Rivers and Lagos States.
The breakdown of the results show that 12 States in Nigeria recorded percentage that were above national average in the following order: Anambra State (67.85%), Abia State(65.17%), Rivers State(58.56%), Lagos State(56.03), Cross River State( 53.34%), Bayelsa State(51.66%), Enugu State (50.22%), Delta State( 46.49%), IMO State(46,03%), Abuja (43.9%), Ogun (39.92%), and Kadunna (39.47%).
The percentage of the total number of candidates that obtained a minimum of 5 credits including English Language and General Mathematics was 36.57% as against 30.90% and 37.66% for the 2011 and 2012 May/June 2013 WASSCE respectively.
This, according to WAEC, implies that the average performance of the candidates in the May/June 2013 WASSCE was slightly lower than that of the 2012.
When contacted on phone, the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Uju Okeke confirmed the development, which she attributed to Gov. Peter Obi revolution in the education sector.
Okeke said that Gov. Peter Obi did everything conceivable to return education to its former glory in Anambra State by returning the schools to their missionary owners and until he left, gave them financial grant to the tune of over 6 billion naira.
She noted that Obi also committed a lot of funds to the rebuilding of Government-owned schools besides, provided over 750 Buses to schools in the State as well as generators, sick bays, Laboratory equipment, INTERNET facilities, over 25,000 computers to schools in the State.
The Commissioner who said she was not surprised at the performance of Anambra schools, said she was rather looking forward to Anambra outperforming other states with wider margin, insisting that any State that make commensurate investment in education as Obi did would not expect any less.
she further said that because of the effect of Obi’s revolution on educational performance, that the World bank commissionered team of experts led by the renowned Prof. Paul Collier to study what Obi was doing and that in the end they recommended his model to other countries to copy.
She expressed happiness that the incumbent Governor, Obiano has assured that the same policy on education would continue.
