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By Oluwatosin Adiyan
Stakeholders in the education sector have cried to the federal government for due retribution of schools that engaged in prodigious registration fees expected of students for West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations.
They said this at a one-day national sensitisation workshop tagged “The Role of Education Stakeholders in Tackling Examination Malpractice in Nigeria.”
The workshop was organised by the National Examinations Council (NECO) in conjunction with the National Assembly to enlighten and educate Nigerians on the consequences of examination malpractice.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Senator, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere, lamented that some schools have raised WAEC, NECO fees to between N45,000 and N60,000 from the N18,000 which it was per student.
The initial acceptable amount charged by the examination bodies per candidate was N13,000. This amount was recently raised to N18,000 as a result of current state of inflation in the country.
Ihonvbere, added that parents who are in support of examination malpractices are solely destroying the future of their children.
According to him, in some cases, the school authorities conspire with others to carry out these acts and also charge candidates extra fee aside the approved price for malpractice aids.
Senator Akon Eyakenyi, the deputy chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, lamented that examination malpractice is destroying the credibility of the educational system.
She added that managers of the education sub-sector, other education bodies should collaborate with law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies and ensure they device effective strategies to win the challenge of examination malpractice in the country.
The Chief Executive and Registrar of NECO, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, said one of the difficulties besieging the conduct of public examinations is the problem of examination malpractice.
He further stated that examination malpractice has a way of discouraging hard work among serious students, decrease educational standards, undermine certificates, and promote the number of incompetent manpower in the country.
ENDS
