An insight into Factors Militating against Nigerian Students' attainment in English Language Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination

The incessant cries of the public towards senior secondary school students at the English language certificate examination failure in the national examination (NECO) and West African senior school certificate examination (WASSCE) have been going on for the last two decades. This article focuses on the rate at which the Nigerian education standard has fallen; it keeps reflecting in the persistent failure of this group of students being the bedrock of the educational system. To further find out if literature is giving a clear picture of the situation on ground, the researchers carried out a pilot study by administering a questionnaire on 72 senior secondary school teachers of English language from Plateau and Kogi states, North-central region of Nigeria to get their opinions on the issue at stake. Students' attitude, government's lack of proper attention, parents' laxity towards their children's education and in some cases, comprising with examination malpractice in the last two decades and teachers' quality and attitude were among some factors militating against the students' attainment in the said examination.