Don’t make Maths, English language compulsory, Rochas tells education bodies

Gov Okorocha in a handshake with the Registrar CEO of NECO, Prof. Abdulrashid Garba during his visit to Govt. House, Owerri on Thursday last week

Governor Rochas Okorocha has called on Universities in Nigeria and other relevant bodies to drop the idea of making English language and mathematics compulsory for admissions into Higher Institutions of learning because making these two subjects compulsory for admissions has frustrated many brilliant students who could for one reason or the other, not pass either of the two subjects.

Governor Okorocha who spoke when the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the National Examination Council, (NECO), Prof. Abdulrashid Garba visited him at the Government House Owerri, with his team recently, stressed that the time has come for all the concerned bodies in the country to help our education and also help students with the ambition of pursuing higher education, by dropping the demand that a child must have credit in English and Mathematics before he or she can gain admission into the university. Instead of making the two subjects mandatory, only the subjects relevant to the courses the individual students want to pursue in higher institutions should be made mandatory, Okorocha advocated.

According to him, the rule that made it mandatory that Nigerian students must credit English and Mathematics before they could proceed to higher institutions has led some students to indulge in some unconventional activities to ensure that they pass the two subjects while some of the brilliant ones who could not make the subjects for one reason or the other are denied the opportunity of moving on to the university.

He said the school population in the state has continued to move up progressively since 2011 because of the free education programme of his administration from primary to the University, adding that his administration has continued to pay teachers in the state their salaries as at when due because of the high premium his government places on education.

The governor commended Prof. Abdulrashid Garba for the progress so far recorded by NECO in its operations including the conduct of School Certificate Examinations, urging them to remain patriotic and show the spirit of sacrifice especially now that the country is going through a trying period and President Mohammadu Buhari is working to fix the country again after what happened in the past few years.

Gov Rochas Okorocha in a group pix with the Registrar and CEO of NECO, Prof. Abdulrashid Garba and others during their visit to Govt. House, Owerri on Thursday.

In his speech earlier, Prof. Garba commended Governor Okorocha for the free education programme of his administration and told the governor that the Council would soon begin to develop the land given to it by the Imo state government, appealing that the government should spare the council’s land when carrying out its threat to revoke lands that had been acquired long before now without those concerned making any effort to develop them.