Causes of poor achievement in West African school certificate mathematics examinations in Rivers State secondary schools, Nigeria

Abstract

An investigation into the causes of poor achievement in West African School Certificate Mathematics examinations was conducted in eleven randomly selected secondary schools in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State. The results showed among other things that most of the students doing mathematics have very little interest in the subject. It also shows that most of the students prefer other subjects to mathematics, and regard the subject as being difficult. Almost all the students study mathematics because it is compulsory in WASC, and because without studying it they may not gain entry into any of the Nigerian Universities. Only a very small percentage of the teachers who teach mathematics in the schools have a teaching qualification, though almost all of them are graduates. Most of the teachers teaching mathematics in these schools still use the traditional ‘talk and chalk’ method when teaching. The relationship between the students and their mathematics teachers is only fairly cordial. Few teachers motivate their students by always relating mathematics to real life situations when they teach.