REVEALED! A school in Nigeria where students do not sit for WASSCE, GCE and NECO exams

 “Registration for Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal) is now ongoing”, a notice on NECO website informs.

“The examination registration cards are now available at NECO offices.”

“The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) welcomes you to its e-Registration website,” the examination body announces on its own website. “It is a user-friendly online registration website for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination. It allows schools in Nigeria to register their candidates online through the Internet.”

If you bother to check, one set of names you are likely not to find either on NECO or WAEC’s examination registration list are names of students from Greensprings School, Lagos. With all due respect to both examination bodies, students of the elite private school, founded 30 years ago (January 1985), by Mrs. Lai Koiki, today, the Executive Director, do not sit for either the NECO exams (the National Common Entrance Examination, NCEE; Basic Education Certification Examination, BECE; the SSCE, Internal and External) or WAEC’s (West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE; School Certificate/General Certificate Examination, SC/GCE O’ levels; Higher School Certificate/General Certificate Examination, HSC/GCE A’ levels).

Instead they go for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), run by the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCLES) and The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), administered by the International Baccalaureate (IB).

Checkpoint Examination

Talking about the IGCSE, at Greensprings, the first three years of secondary serve to introduce the pupils to more advanced study skills in preparation for the Checkpoint Examination which takes place in Year 9. The Checkpoint Examination, taken in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science, serves to give a better understanding of the pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in preparation for subject choices in Year 10, when the IGCSE programme begins in earnest.

The final two years are the examination years. The students are encouraged to use the study skills learnt through elementary school and Years 7 to 9 and take charge of their own learning to prepare them for the greater challenges they will face after they pass their IGCSE examinations at the end of Year 11. The five years of secondary education culminate in the IGCSE examination.

The IB programme that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is accepted by many universities worldwide is currently taught in English, French or Spanish. Subjects are assessed using both internal and external assessments, and courses finish with an externally assessed series of examinations, usually consisting of two or three timed written examinations. “We do French, Spanish and we are planning, as from September, to introduce Mandarin (Chinese language),” Koiki informed you.

The IB programme is “a very unique programme and going into it is not exactly what you would expect in other exams like IGCSE,” Sholape Tinubu, one of the many outstanding students in the Greensprings IB School, said. “In IB you have to apply everything that you have learnt to a real-life situation. And that’s one of the great things about it. It develops you so much intellectually. I think the programme can be adapted but it will need a lot of work because a lot of resources have to be brought in. I am happy that the Greensprings School gave me the opportunity to take the programme on. It also develops you socially because they have this programme that has to do with community service. You go to orphanages to play with children from less privileged homes. It teaches you to get out of the circle of yourself to focus on the things that have to do with other people.”

Why Greensprings do not sit for WAEC/NECO exams

When asked, in a recent interview with a group of journalists from selected media houses, to throw some light on the reasons her pupils do not sit for any of the exams being offered by WAEC and NECO, she observed that “education at this time requires that you teach the students to apply what they have learnt. In our own days when we went to school, what we needed to do was just learn theoritical facts and know them and then when the exam comes, just put them down, regurgitate them for the examiner and you get your A’s and B’s. Three days after, if anyone asked you, you don’t remember because you just needed it to prepare for your exam and you’ve passed your exam and that is the end of it. But these children (Greensprings students) are being prepared for world platform. They are not necessarily being prepared for the Nigerian environment but with the certificates they can  also study in Nigeria.”

Giving more insight into why she decided to give exams being offered by the two examination bodies a wide berth, she confessed that “we had planned to run IGCSE and WAEC parallel. But when we got to JSS 3 the very first JSS 3 exam we were going to write, the invigilators came. I was the Headmistress and they came to me to say that they want to help my children. I told them, ‘Please, don’t help my children. It is not necessary.’ However, they still went ahead and helped them and everybody got A. It was at that point that I decided that these children are not going to write this exam anymore. I could have decided to allow them. After all, this is a private school. When the results are good the school grows. But doing that will be something that will make me happy whereas the children are not learning.

“I thought that the children need to write an exam that we can fix by teaching them well and they only can also fix by being prepared. We’d experienced this with the sixth form common entrance even before we started the secondary school. They helped the children with a lot of cheating going on, with 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds. I said what is this? And some parents of our own children would complain that our children are getting 400 whereas other children were getting 600 and above. We said these children are good and have done their best. However, at some point in time, the government now introduced oral interviews. When the interviews were introduced, even though our children were getting 400 and something while others were getting 600 and above, our children were coming out tops in the interviews.

“That is to say, there’s something fundamentally wrong with our society. That was when we decided that IGCSE is the only exam we are going to do because it is marked externally and nobody can influence the scores in any way. Some Nigerian students go abroad and they have these wonderful scores in WAEC exams and people are just looking at them in a funny way: did you really make these scores yourself or did someone help you? Even though the child could have gotten the grades all by himself or herself but because of the general cheating in the exams, there is no credibility attached to the grades anymore. That was why we settled for the IGCSE. Our education system needs change; it needs to be reworked

“We were the first school in Nigeria to start writing the IGCSE. In fact, the British Council tried to discourage us because at that time the GCSE was the prevalent examination. In the UK, they write the GCSE because they have moved away from the GCE which, unfortunately, some schools or some students still write. Even though it was imported from the UK, it is not being written by their own children anymore. But even up till today our own children are still writing GCE examination. The IGCSE is like the GCSE that the British schools write. The difference is in the “I” before the GCSE, that is the international part of it, meaning that this is more global and wider and broader. But you know what? Even now, many of the private schools in the UK prefer to write the IGCSE to the GCSE because the world has become a global village.”

Redefining education in Nigeria/Africa

Many discussants who contributed their opinions during the 30^th anniversary lecture of the school held on Wednesday, January 21, 2015, at the Shell Hall of Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, and moderated by Harry H McFaul, the school’s Director of Education, said as much. Speaking on the theme of the lecture: “The future of education in an uncertain world  – re-defining education in Africa” Mr. Daouda Toure, the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, who was the Guest Speaker called for a change from the colonial type of education which is based on the mastery of content to “a robust educational model that combines traditional content with critically important financial, health, and administrative skills, which can be delivered via existing school systems. Those who cannot go beyond the basic education level should engage in vocational training to fill the ever-increasing demand in that technical area.”

In the address read on his behalf by Lamin Beyai, a Director at UNDP Nigerian office, he added that “students do not need more academic skills than life skills that will enable them to improve their financial prospects and well-being. These include financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills; health maintenance and management skills; and administrative capabilities, such as teamwork, problem solving, and project management. We cannot solve 21st Century problems with 20th Century curriculum! Our un-reformed education system has served the colonial era and the immediate post-independence period. We must overhaul it completely to serve us in the 21st Century.”

“Changes can also be made to the existing system through training and continuing education for teachers, review of the methodology, use of up-to-date learning materials, and adoption of pedagogical approaches, which allow students to work in self-directed teams to learn, discuss, and actively practice, using the basic content of standard governmental curricula instead of oral/abstract teaching,” he further suggested. “Through this unique combination of relevant content, practical implementation, and student empowerment; our children will develop a body of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which will avail them the opportunity to succeed after leaving school, regardless of whether they go to tertiary education far from home or remain in their communities to translate their knowledge to practice. This requires the participation of all stakeholders in education, including the private sector.”

Frank talks

Frank Nweke Jnr, former Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Duties and Youth Development, of Information and National Orientation under Obasanjo administration, agreed. “The two entities that have the greatest role to play in reforming our education sector and ensuring that society and the continent obtain the right outcomes are responsible, disciplined government, on the one hand and a committed private sector, on the other,” he noted in his contribution. “I salute Mrs. Koiki and there are so many people around the country who had done similar thing and who are doing similar thing. I salute each and everyone of them for their love for learning and investment in education, for their vision and for this significant contribution to our national development.”

Frank talk, wouldn’t you rather say! “What I took out from Mrs. Koiki’s speech earlier is the fact that she is constantly innovating,” he remarked. “She understands local competitiveness. She understands what is going on around the world and so she is constantly improving her school curriculum, reviewing the curriculum to reflect new global realities. It is important. And, you think government cannot do that? Government can if you have people doing the right thing in government. Government in Germany has done it and is doing it on constant basis. Governments in Finland are doing it on constant basis. Government in Rwanda is doing it on ongoing basis. Governments in United Kingdom are doing it on constant basis. Governments in Malaysia and Singapore are doing it. So, it is actually possible for our government to do it. The notion that because it is public sector therefore it cannot work holds no truth for someone like me. I believe it can be done but you need serious-minded, right thinking people who understand the value of education to be in the driver’s seat.”

“I was very much touched when Frank talked about responsible government,” Andrew Jedras, Principal at Atlantic Hall, Poka near Epe, Lagos, and member, Board of Trustees, Association of International Schools Educators in Nigeria (AISEN), confessed. “Education is not about just throwing money at something. That is bad investment. It is about driving a model of learning which befits the aims of targeted audience, in this case, the young people. We must do away with the sterile, dull, boring education in the classroom. We have responsibility to make sure we support outstanding teachers. The Nigerian nation must develop visionary teachers.”

A story told by Fidelis Nthege, a lady, and Head of Services for the International Baccalaureate based in the IB Global Centre in The Hague, Netherlands, was to explain what Jedras meant by ‘visionary teachers.’ “I used to be head of a school some years ago and I used to complain a lot when students brought their mobile phones to school. But to be honest, I am regretting it today. I wished I allowed them to bring their mobile phones to school. The challenge before the teachers today is to use that mobile device as a tool of instruction. You know what? We have to shape up our thinking to live with this generation. We have a moral obligation to these youngsters. We do need to have an education that allows them to have fun with their mobile phones and at the same time be engaged in profitable studies and education research with them.

“We do not want our teachers to be giving our students; we want them to teach our students how to get access to knowledge. That is one of the core businesses of the organi\sation that I work for. This school is one of the first schools that we have in this country that do the International Baccalaureate. Teachers you need to be teachers of how to learn, not teachers of content. And that is what Greensprings does so well.”

“There is need for a major paradigm shift,” Lere Baale, the Lead Consultant/Regional Director of Howes Consulting Group in Middle East and Africa Region observed. “Rather than teach in class and give students homework to do, teachers should give the students homework to do about the subject they are yet to teach. First, it forces them to learn from the position of ignorance and let them come to class and teach themselves and thereafter the teacher should sum it up and teach them the principles. The likelihood that the knowledge they’ve acquired will stay longer is there. This is what I refer to as experiential learning.”

Interestingly, this agrees with Greensprings’ five core values: child-centredness, respect, integrity, excellence and service.

Looking for a good school for your child?

“My take is that we should look for a good school that will help our children discover their purpose in life before they become teenagers,” opined Prince Olumide Olugbenle, graduate of Economics from University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), alumnus of Lagos Business School, where he obtained an Executive MBA, fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and Nigeria Institute of Management and Chairman of Parents Teachers Association, Greensprings School, Lekki Campus.

Everyone who spoke believes that Greensprings is one of those schools. Born on January 21, 1985, it opened its doors in Anthony with three students and two teachers. One of the students was the founder’s child, and the rest two her sister’s. Today, the Anthony Campus established as a Montessori School boasts 1,143 children from 2-16 years old, and some 400 staff including teaching and non-teaching staff. Educationally, Greensprings School whose vision and mission is “to lead holistic, inclusive, innovative world-class education in Africa” and “to promote lifelong learning in an open and caring atmosphere that motivates students to be confident and responsible global citizens,” has emerged as a leading institution in the 21^st century, providing students with a world-class educational experience. Today it has a student population of over 2300 across the two campuses at Anthony and Lekki and over 600 members of staff. The vast majority of the students are Nigerian but some of them are from other parts of West Africa and the world including Turkey, India, South Africa. Many of them have dual nationality, being both Nigerian and British or from the USA. The school is academically non-selective but their results at IGCSE and IB are outstanding.

By Chika Abanobi