The 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has ranked Ibarapa North Local Government Area as the poorest-performing in Oyo State.
Findings show that an insufficient number of teachers, poor facilities, and a declining interest in education are driving the low performance. In Ayete, Tapa, and Igangan, several government schools lack teachers for key subjects such as Geography, Literature-in-English, Government, and Computer Science. Many rely on “PTA teachers” engaged by parents, but most abandon the role once better opportunities arise.
There is also the issue of infrastructure, as some students sit on bare floors due to a shortage of desks, while libraries and laboratories remain unequipped. At Baptist High School, Ayete, a classroom building was found without a roof. Meanwhile, many senior secondary students cannot identify their academic interests, while some graduates said they never checked their results because they “knew they failed.”
Students described education as a “waste of time,” pointing to unemployed graduates in their communities who end up as commercial motorcyclists or artisans. The popular phrase “Iwe o ta” (“education does not sell”) speaks to their sentiment.
Teachers in the area also confirmed low morale. One noted that nearly 30 teachers in Tapa Community High School share a single car. In contrast, others said that in communities where artisans and traders live more comfortably than teachers, education has lost social value. The shortage of manpower has also forced some schools to merge students into limited subject departments, with a single teacher handling multiple levels from JSS1 to SS3. Calls have been made to the Oyo State government to urgently address teacher shortages, improve facilities, and reorient communities to make learning more comfortable for pupils.
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