The President of the Association of Retired Principals of Secondary Schools of Nigeria, ARPSSON, Ogun State chapter, Comrade Alexander Obadimu, has raised concern over the removal of mathematics from arts and humanities courses, warning that the move could breed academic decadence.
Obadimu contended that it will discourage students from taking science classes, and ultimately impact scientific research for the country’s innovation growth.
Recall that the Federal Ministry of Education, in a statement by its spokesperson, Folasade Boriowo, on Tuesday, said senior secondary school students in the arts and humanities will no longer be required to present a credit in mathematics in their Senior School Certificate Examination, SSCE, for tertiary admissions.
Boriowo stated that the reform became necessary after years of restricted access, which denied many qualified candidates admission opportunities, adding that while over two million candidates sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, annually, only about 700,000 gain admission.
Reacting to the development, the ARPSSON president on Wednesday, during the association’s 3rd annual congress held in Abeokuta the Ogun State capital, maintained that mathematics plays an important role in academia and its absence would create a vacuum in the sector’s planned educational deliverables.
He said, “It is very unfortunate that such decisions could come up at this time around. Many students would run off from mathematics; mathematics has its good side and saying it’s no longer required is unfortunate.
“Many of the students would not even try to offer it again and lo and behold, you would discover that academic decadence would start coming in. It has its own positive role in academics generally.
He doubted the reform’s sustainability, believing that non-compliance from some higher institutions could undermine its effectiveness.
“I want to believe that it won’t stay for long because some higher institutions might not take it as decided by the federal ministry of education” he concluded.
