… Stakeholders, students kick, ask govt to review directive
THE 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination, popularly referred to as Junior WAEC, has been approved to start on Monday, September 21, 2020, in Ebonyi State, with a directive from the state government that the examination questions be written on the board for students.
The decision was part of the resolutions reached after a stakeholders’ meeting with the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Education, Onyebuchi Chima, in Abakaliki.
Onyebuchi informed the stakeholders that the state government had directed that the questions for the examination be written on the board instead of the usual printed question papers by the Ministry of Education.
Customised answer sheets will not also be made available, as the principals and proprietors of schools have been directed to collect foolscap sheets with ink markers and/or chalks at their Local Education Authorities for the examination.
According to Chima, every school shall collect only one question paper in each of the subjects for replication manually on class boards for the students, while there would be no room for practicals or alternative to practicals as before.
Part of the resolution said, “That this year’s examination shall be written on the board for the students to answer into the provided foolscap sheets, which must be signed by the Local Education Authorities before issuance to the school principals. The examinations shall last only one hour for each paper; that each student is expected to answer only two questions in all.
“That all questions shall be theory, no objectives. Only main papers shall be given, no practical or alternative to practicals; that students should not be taxed for any practical, as the ministry shall be on ground for monitoring of the exams.
“That only the Ministry of Education shall monitor private schools.”
On general school reopening, the Commissioner noted that the Ministry would send a memo to Governor David Umahi for approval of resumption date.
Meanwhile, most principals of schools, as well as proprietors of private schools, have expressed gross disappointment with the development, accusing the government of shortchanging both the schools and the students.
Those who spoke to The Point, explained that the Ministry had no justification to direct that the examinations be written on class boards after the government had levied huge sums of money on the schools and the students.
A school proprietor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said this government’s directive on the conduct of the examination meant pitching the parents, pupils and students against individual school managers, a development he maintained was not healthy for educational development of the state.
According to him, all the private schools were charged Annual Renewal Fee, ranging between N30,000 to N500,000 by the government, based on assessment.
He added that before now, each of the candidate in the 181 private schools and 226 public schools in the state had also paid a total sum of N3,050, which included practical examination and other petty fees remitted to government through the schools.
He called on Governor Umahi to prevail on the Ministry of Education to print the examination question papers for the candidates to make the BECE worthwhile.
Similarly, a prospective candidate, who identified herself as Nkwuda, from one of the Junior secondary Schools in Izzi Local Government Area of the state, said the examination would completely lose its significance for her if the question papers were not printed as before.
She appealed to government to rescind its decision for the good of the students.
Those who attended the meeting included principals, proprietors, and representatives of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, among others.
