Despite High Literacy Rate, Oyo Govt fails to Typeset Arabic Question Paper for BECE JSS 3


Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3 students in Oyo State took the Arabic Basic Certificate Examination (BECE) on Monday; nevertheless, they were shocked to discover that the exam’s question paper had been photocopied.

Oyo State was created in February 3, 1976 out of the old Western State by the then regime of General Murtala Mohammed. The State, where Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology served as the overseeing body for educational matters, was at the forefront of educational growth in Nigeria from the 1950s through the 1980s. Records show that in 1955, the Western Region was the first to offer free primary education. As stated in the Western Region of Nigeria Law, which was released on April 14, 1975, the Ministry of Education, Oyo State was founded in 1955 with a vision “To develop an egalitarian society populated by self-actualized, self-reliant and upright people as ingredients of technological progress and rapid growth through an all-inclusive education,” and a mission, “Achieving an all-inclusive qualitative education and address the key challenges in the sector such that no child is left behind in the acquisition of sustainable and productive skills.” In order to improve performance, it was reorganized in 2016 and changed its name to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology. The Ministry could not typeset the 2022 Arabic BECE question paper, which is disappointing given the state’s 80.25 percent literacy rate and digital transformation.

The students wrote their business studies and Arabic exams on Monday, July 25, 2022. However, the Arabic was so horribly written that a professional Arabic teacher might not even try to answer any of the questions because they were so poorly written and unreadable. Perhaps the most visible challenge to learning Arabic is the writing system. If one is only familiar with languages that use the Roman alphabet, the curly connecting Arabic script may seem daunting. But be not deceived- the Arabic script, as far as writing systems go, is not extraordinarily hard. The Muslim Voice discovered that many students ignored and turned in blank response sheets rather than complete ones. This was not because they did not understand Arabic, but rather because the handwriting was illegible and the font was badly done. Normally, this would have been put up in the same way as the other subjects were. The Oyo state’s Ministry of Education has no basis for coming to a different justification given that the students took the National Examination Council (NECO) exam and the paper was properly typed.

School Review: Arabic Institute of Nigeria

In addition, a few of the students who took the BECE exam yesterday claimed it was their first time writing an exam in Arabic and that the questions were not typed. The majority of them, they claimed, found it challenging to read the exam questions. The majority of the students, who attend private schools in the state, said that Arabic questions are typeset every time in their institutions. The National Examination Council (NECO) JSS3 Arabic question paper was provided to the investigator; it was neatly typed, and the students attested that they could read the paper’s content. It should be mentioned that using Microsoft Word with Arabic questions requires specific software. But the state government’s response is subpar for a test that is anticipated to serve as the students’ last summative evaluation test for basic coursework. The change is contrary to the widespread, modern practice of testing and summative evaluation. This professional incompetence will also be documented for the first time in the state this decade.

BECE: Due to Technical Issues, Oyo cancels Arabic Language, Cultural Creative Art Exams

Education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. The proclamation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1966 which was to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human right. Provisions on Right to Education in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria even though regarded as non-justiciable have been given effect and made justiciable by other domestic laws such as the Universal Basic Education Act as well case law, amongst others also support this.

The right to education is a fundamental human right. Plethora of international human rights law instruments considers education a basic right and not a privilege. Therefore, a Nigerian Muslim child is entitled to an Arabic education. Arabic is usually ranked among the top six of the world’s major languages. As the language of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, it is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. We appeal to the appropriate authorities in Oyo State to rise to the occasion and resolve this pressing issue.

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