When Adams introduced me to his young nephew Shodia, I felt elated meeting a prospective genius.
I was told he made five distinctions in his SSC examination back in Nigeria.
And now, he has come to the UK to study medicine
I would not have paid much interest to Shodia's performance, if not for Adams constant reminder that his nephew is going to be a medical doctor.
So, one chilled morning, we drove all the way to St. George's Medical School to enable Shodia sit for the entrance examination.
Two weeks later, the results were published. Shodia's name was omitted,I was told. And the big uncle - Adams refused to believe that it was a typographical error.
Adams called me again and we drove to St. George's Medical School to confront the admission officer.
I did not accompany Adams into the office. He went in alone. When he however came out,he had this embarrassed and confounded look on his face.
How did it go ...? I asked. He said that boy is a disgrace. I said "what..?" I thought you said he is a genius in the making... how come he is now a disgrace...?
Adams then carefully explained to me what the admission officer told him.
He said out of the fifteen questions given to Shodia, he could only attempt two. And of these two questions, he got one correctly. So, in a nut shell, Sodia, scored one out of fifteen.
He said the dean of the faculty had to come in to expain that Shodia's performance was the worst in the history of the entrance examination.
To enable you appreciate Adams embarrassment and confusion properly, I have reproduced Shodia's SSCE result below:
Eng. Lang = 2; Math = 1; Biology = 2; Chemistry = 1; Physics = 2; Economics = 1; Geography = 1; Yoruba = 5
How in the name of anything good can someone with this brillant result fail another 'O' level exam..? This was what baffled us.
Adams vowed to get to the bottom of this mystery.
When we got home (Adams')... he called Shodia to the sitting room. Adams told him bluntly that he failed the entrance examination woefully.
I was expecting Shodia to challenge his uncle by saying...' it is a lie...' Instead, he remained quiet gazing at the floor with this utter vacant look in his eyes.
I then asked Shodia these questions: " Shodia, was the exams too tough for you...?" He said ..."yes"!
Were the questions tougher than your SSCE questions...? Shodia replied by saying..." I don't know.." What...? Shodia replied defiantly..." I said, I don't know...?".
At this stage, Adams was enraged. He screamed at Shodia..." are you not the same person who wrote the SSC examination..?"
To our disappointment and astonishment, Shodia said he was not the one wrote the SSC examination. He confessed that one of his teachers was paid by his mother to write the examination for him.
For good thirty minutes or thereabout, we were too stunned to speak.
The following week, Adams bundled Shodia into a Virgin airplane back to Nigeria.
I have only narrated what happened. I reserve my opinion/comment.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
A Genius Who Could not Pass His SSCE...?
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6 comments:
Three possibilities.
1. Miracle Centre. :- Special Centres in Nigeria that gives you answers to all the question marks, and in such centers you could get such results.
2. Hiring a mercenary to write the exams.
3. Buying the result, possible too.
The exam is difficult and I took it myself even though I took London GCE O level too, and I must say, the Nigerian SSCE exams is upto standard. Although I must confess that environment factors play an important role in determining its product.
The exam is diffcult jare, omo, I passed it but it was my only way out of Naija so I worked extra hard, but that was a sad story, mehn I feel the uncle...Eya
In as much as i agree that the exams are tough, shame on Shodia, his mum and the school teacher.Shame also to the examination body in Nigeria that could not detect what was written by a teacher from a student.
thats naija 4 u. some parents would even sit 4 an exam 4 their kids @ d nursery level.
Shodia's mum should hve also jetted the teacher 2 the uk 2 write the exams 4 her son.agbaya!
Hmm na wa oh!
Money talks in that country. If you have money, you can get things done.
I wonder what parents hope to acheive by such ridiculous actions. The exams were challenging but not impossible. The mother should have paid the teacher to give her son extra tutoring then maybe he would have been able to pass them on his own! I found that even while I was studying for my A-Levels in London, I was drawing on my SSCE knowledge.
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