Posted by ONYEJI DOMINIC on
EXCERPTS FROM:
DOWNRIGHT
FAILURE
By
Onyeji Dominic
Tel: 08038431845
E-mail: geme450@yahoo.com
SHOCKS AND BITTER COMPLAIN
a. Way back in the nineties, exams were internal and external
WAEC was then the only examination board in Nigeria
The initial stood for West African Examination Council
It implied that its certificate was valid within West Africa.
b. The exams, in those days, were conducted once in a session
WAEC was meant to conduct three different examinations
And the three included the following: JSSCE, SSCE and GCE
Out of these, GCE was external, meant for those that failed SSCE
In 1995, Amasage happened to be among the woeful ones;
He got poor grades in the internal secondary courses.
c. The result was released six months after the sitting
The photocopies were first pasted on notice board
And that day, Amasage arrived with foreboding
As if his mind knew that his result would be bad
d. He came together with Michael, a male friend
The result was traced beginning from the first list
And both of them frowned when it was found
Michael was the one that spotted the result first.
e. The worst part of it were Literature and English Language,
The two compulsory subjects he needed as an art student
“F9 in English Language?” asked Michael, “That’s strange!
On the day they wrote English Language, were you absent?”
“Waec don’t use F9 as grade for absence during exam
It means that you wrote the exam and scored zero”
“How can you score zero when everybody knows you as gem?
Who in this college does not know Amasage as hero?”
f. “I’m finished! Literature in English, F9”, said Amasage,
Pointing his right fingers on the school notice board
“Which person on earth will say this is not strange?”
“Incredible!” said Michael, “Waec is truly a bastard
Look at your Government, AI together with Mathematics;
AI in Mathematics and Govt, F9 in both Literature and English”
“Isn’t that ironic? I usually have problem with simple Arithmetic
And here my result is reading AI in Mathematics, total rubbish!”
g. The woeful result gave everybody terrible shock
Most of the students and teachers referred to it as jinx
But Amasage could not imagine himself having bad luck
He blamed WAEC for the failure, thinking that it was a fix.
h. That same day, the principal took time to talk sense into him
He invited him in his office later for words of exhortation,
A lengthy homily that kept him walking on the path of wisdom
His point was that failure is an agent of destined preparation.
i. According to the principal, no living soul can become a sage
If he does not possess dauntless attitude towards challenges
And one great challenge we have to face in life is failure,
An agent that makes one prepare adequately for one’s future
Examination, like he said, is not a true test of success
The successful are those who are determined to progress.