By Victor C. Ariole

One of such factors like noted by Professor Obaji, the first female Minister of Education in Nigeria, is epiphenomenal issues relating to high score earners – are they caused by conduciveness or stimulating conditions or even fraudulent environment; providing clues and keys by the computer without stimulating items (questions) as if it is mere guess work examination like a candidate noted; on and off rebooting of the computer in circumstances where electricity supply is not steady; circuitous diversion in the likes of hacking where a parallel platform is provided to do the examination while those visually monitored in form of proctoring are mere “ghosts” in reversal.

According to Professor Obaji, when post-UTME examination was introduced in 2005, it was because most of those who obtained high scores in JAMB are not performing in co-relationship with such scores in their first year in the university; and post – UTME helped in sifting the “grains from the chaffs”. It also helped the government in reducing university intake such that the capacity carrying values of the universities were respected to an extent that full capacity carrying of the universities was not fully met, making it really a selection process based on second level decision making. With current JAMB result, a reverse trend sets-in as greater number of low scores is noticed which could not be divorced from a cumulative problem of long term cheating that has now resulted in autistic syndrome.

Autism, in neuronal terms, is seen as a disorder relating to repetitive, restricted and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests and activities as well as “not communicating effectively with the computer”. Plasticity of the brain leads to adaptive behavior as environment or stimuli change; but an autistic person like people permanently stimulated by electronic devices, either with earphones permanently plugged to the ears or stimulating always virtual conditions, lack brain plasticity that tends to be the norm of efficient and effective cognitive development. Disorderly cognitive development sets-in, and it leads to epiphenomenal cases of autistic spectrum extension, joining even those who were not supposed to be on the spectrum if the stimulating factors had not deteriorated to remain fixated by electronic or robotic devices.

Someone expressed being a teacher of Biology for over 18 years and couldn’t even score 190 that could be seen as the derived mean from the looks of current JAMB scores. By observation, fixation or misplaced repetitiveness could be the cause, and computer environment would have been non-adaptive to him. Most candidates who took the JAMB examinations are still struggling to attune their brain to computer environment. In all life situations maturation and growth patterns are not the same for everyone – early risers and laggards still remain the norm, and when growth is retarded by either feeding pattern or human manipulated environmental development, readiness and motivation could encounter mismatch which could drag more people into autistic spectrum.

President Donald Trump just lamented of such syndrome on a TV. According to him twenty years ago USA recorded one candidate out of every 26,000 US citizens suffering from autism but today, it is one candidate out of every 36 US citizens; even his own cousin has all his children suffering from autism. To Trump, it calls for serious probing and quick solution needed to arrest the situation.

It is not far from what is happening to no fewer than two million Nigerian youths who participated in the current JAMB examinations.

Beyond factors dragging the current population of youths into autistic spectrum, government and the entire educational system need to look into co-relationship between gadgets fixating the brain process of the youths and the chainable stimuli with their activatable responses that lead to optimising brain capacity in the workplaces as against the current outlook of brain glut.

Brain glut sets-in when neuronal plasticity is damned; and it is the duty of the educational process and the waiting workplace of the society the youths intend to be absolved in, to be ever vigilant and greatly motivated to create conducive environment.

Demotivated teachers and educators cannot lead the charge. With greatly demotivated teachers and dilapidated learning environment, there are going to be more people dragged into the autistic spectrum or forced to have brains that are not stimulated for making Nigeria great. Current UTME scores are just a wake-up call like Trump was able to observe in the USA case of autistic trends.

Like some innate genetic normal codes that are reconditioned as a result or epigenetic exposure, Nigeria nay Africa must be cautious in the way their youths are educationally raised. JAMB results are foretaste in avoiding disaster in future.

• Ariole, Ph.D, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, University of Lagos