Nigeria is ignoring ‘sorting’ syndrome in institutions of higher education at its peril, as the nation’s international standing may soon be whittled down due to weak certificates in peoples’ hands.
Former vice chancellor of the University of Science and Technology (UST), Barineme Beke Fakae, who dropped the bombshell in Port Harcourt last week, said the virus was fast depriving Nigeria of power in the international arena because “knowledge is power.”
He told the University of Nigeria Almuni Association (UNAA) at a dinner lecture that “Sorting in its various forms is not only a dead end for standard in tertiary education institutions, but it is now a cancer since it is practiced by those who should stamp out such practices. It is happening slowly and it will soon engulf and destroy our entire society.”
The former VC who is hailed for rescuing the once dead university to international recognition and moved the UST from 76th to 12th in webometric ranking regretted that exam malpractice is emerging as an accepted norm in most quarters; something he said is now ignored by staff unions.
Describing the menace as “earning marks through cash or sex”, he said it included buying of handout or textbooks with hope to get undue marks from a lecturer. “Less than 35 per cent pass WAEC with English and Maths but less than half of this can neither read nor solve Maths, yet, they find their way into Higher Education institutions. These can only pass their semester exams by sorting.”
Fakae said some sections of the university community ask for waivers to pass exams and end up doing mass certification of illiterate people. “One could describe the certificates so obtained as “certificates of ignorance. The greater danger is that these certificated illiterates would neither accept to go back to learn nor advance in society; they end up unemployed or under-employed.”
The international researcher and professor of parasitology regretted that governments and parents were unaware of the extent of rot, and that any university administrator that tried to fight sorting is often blackmailed or termed too harsh. “For example, a system where the law enforcement agents encourage lawlessness will surely end in anarchy. Employing a graduate that passed through “sorting” is devastating when you imagine the idea of flying on an aeroplane piloted by someone who did not pass all the required subjects in the aviation school.
He said: “Imagine also being chauffeur-driven by an incompetent driver who carries a forged driving licence or being operated upon by a quack medical doctor. One can only submit one’s self to this group of people if one just wants to commit suicide. It may not be long when what we condone today will turn around to hurt us badly tomorrow. One of our local adages say ‘No reasonable person throws stones in the market because he/she may not know who may be hurt’”.
As a way out, Fakae urged the alumni groups to start the war against sorting and dish out public condemnation. Next, he said, they former scholars should press for e-learning systems in universities.
“It has been shown that digital lifestyle and its mobile applications are imperatives for the new direction of faster development of our tertiary institutions since they enhance transparency and accountability.”
He went on: “Information and communication technologies (ICT) must be deployed in our universities to police the key processes and make them transparent and efficient. For example, the rapid rise in the fame of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, on the World Webometric Ranking Table (from 76th to 12th position) in the recent past was as a result of the deliberate use of ICT.”
The Ogoni-born university administrator insisted that new times demanded for new approaches to learning. “The world is now becoming more complex; forcing us to realize the inadequacy of manually operated information systems which is subject to all forms of manipulations and hence we are becoming more dependent on computer technology. We can drastically reduce or eliminate “sorting” by encouraging and supporting our University to adopt the digital lifestyle. This will involve the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for effective learning and transparent curriculum delivery. It is the new way to go!”
