•By Omogbolahan Adisa, Ilorin
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has blacklisted 165 secondary schools in Kwara State for examination malpractices.
In addition, the schools will jointly pay N30.5 million fine to the examination body.
The sanction affected 122 public secondary schools and 43 private secondary schools in the state.
The Gazelle News.com learnt that the schools were blacklisted for various forms of examination malpractices during the WAEC examinations which took place between 8 April and 31 May, 2019.
The affected schools were not only blacklisted but were each also fined N250,000. They are to jointly pay a huge N30.5million to the examination body.
The Gazelle News.com also learnt that it was the worst case of examination malpractices and sanction ever in the history of the state.
The Gazelle News.com’s investigations revealed that there were wide cases of reported cheating and other malpractices during the examinations and many top education officials and parents were indicted.
The incident has generated a stiff reaction from the state Governor, AbdulRahman Abdul Razaq.
This medium learnt that the Governor was so livid with rage over the development and has thus, threatened heavy sanctions against any school heads or officials caught aiding and abetting examination malpractices.
“This administration is sad to note that WAEC has derecognised 165 schools in Kwara because of widespread cases of cheating in the 2019 senior secondary certificate examination in which some top education officials and parents were implicated.
This is very unfortunate and this administration will not hesitate to sanction any school heads or officials that ever engage in such conduct in the future,” Rafiu Ajakaye, chief press secretary to the Governor, said in a statement on Thursday, 16 January, 2020.
“The administration also urges parents to desist from encouraging cheating in the examination. We call on Kwarans to expose this cancer. As a result of such incidents of aiding and abetting of examination malpractices, this administration will now have to pay N30.5m of scarce public resources to get the necessary approval for the affected public schools to host WAEC examinations in the future. This is avoidable. Examination malpractice constitutes some of the worst hindrance to a bright future because it negates the time tested principles of hard work, diligence, and thirst for knowledge and excellence.”
The statement said such unhealthy trend and other shortcomings in the sector explain why the government is organising an education summit in the first quarter of 2020 to discuss all the issues affecting the sector and come up with practicable roadmap and reform options.
Copyright: The Gazelle News.com
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