State governments are said to pay billions of naira as fees for school certificate examinations for thousands of students each year but with very few of the candidates obtaining the requisite credits in five subjects, including mathematics and English Language, needed for admission into tertiary institutions. 

Most of the final year students sat for at least 9 O-Level subjects offered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO). 

 

A committee was recently raised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) to review the entry requirement into the colleges and possibly recommend possession of either 3 or 4 credits instead of 5. The committee may likely recommend to the board the exclusion of mathematics as mandatory requirement for a number of courses especially in arts and humanities.

A number of states have, however stopped paying school certificate exam fees for their students while Katsina State has agreed to refund money to students that obtained credits in five subjects. 

Governor Aminu Bello Masari recently approved the refund of N750 million examination fees of no fewer than 6,000 candidates that scored over four credits in the previous senior secondary school certificate examination in the state owned institutions.    

Katsina had between 2015 and 2017 spent about N1.8 billion for the payment of WAEC and NECO fees for its 137,043 students according to statistics obtained from the state Ministry of Education.

However, out of the total number of students that sat for the examinations, only 39,255 passed with five credits including maths and English.

The dismal performance by students informed the decision of the government to introduce a 'mock qualifying’ exams. Students who pass the mock test will have their school certificate exam fees paid.

This new policy has saved the state government huge amount of money but has earned criticism as well. In 2017, only N152 million was paid for 1,329 students for WAEC while 10,645 were registered for NECO.

The state government said the new policy has started yielding positive result with an increase in the number of candidates with five credits including math and English and above rising from 2.3 per cent in 2011 to 53.83 per cent in 2017.

Governor Masari had severally said government could no longer afford to continue to waste money on exam fees without commensurate results. Sequel to that, he said, the administration reintroduced the mock qualifying exams to save huge losses incurred and add value to education. He said the government’s new drive which was meant to boost education and stop wastages had recorded successes.

The government said it had paid a refund to parents who registered their wards for the exams and were able to get the required results. About N76 million was expended in this regard.

However, the opposition parties have been using the stoppage of payment of the fees to hit hard on the government just to get sympathy from poor families.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)c state chairman, Salisu Majigiri, said the stoppage was a clear failure on the administration which had showed its lack of concern to the poor and vulnerable.

A lecturer at the state owned Hassan Usman Polytechnic, Bishir Ruwan Godiya, said parents should know it was their responsibility to educate their children and wards and whatever it takes for them to shoulder it. However, where the government has the resources, it was advisable for it to pay students’ exam fees, but the most important responsibility for the government was to provide all requirements for qualitative education in terms of teachers, educational facilities and conducive environment. 

"People should do their best to pay but where government has the resources it is advisable for it to assist and pay," he said

The lecturer agreed that the performance of students wasn’t commensurate to the amount of money government was paying as their NECO and WAEC fees; hence the government has to find other ways to encourage the students.

A parent, Abdullahi Tanko flawed the policy on the ground that the mock test was a selfish move by government that was intended to deprive many less privileged children the opportunity of furthering their education. He said government needed to revisit the decision because people that failed the mock had registered and passed WAEC and NECO exams as such there was no justification for the stoppage.

An accountant with the finance ministry confided in our reporter that the payment of the fees was an avenue used to siphon government money. He alleged that every year government lost close to N150 million through the back door, especially with 'ghost students.’

The Jigawa State government was said to have spent over N700 million in 2016 on the payment of NECO and WAEC fees for students. 

Checks also indicated that there was improvement in the performance of the students. Students’ performance in 2015 in both WAEC and NECO exams stood at 4.4 per cent and 38 per cent respectively while in 2017 the result appreciated by 16.8 per cent in WAEC and 50.2 in NECO.

While speaking with newsmen in October 2016, the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Rabi Ishaq said the state had spent over N700 million on over 10,000 students who sat for both WAEC and NACO, adding that the state only paid for those who earlier passed the qualifying examination in over 120 senior secondary schools across the state.

The chairman of a civil society organisation, Jigawa State Educational Forum, Musbahu Basirka, said despite the fact that there was an improvement in the performance of students from the state in both WAEC and NECO exams, government needed to do more in terms of provision of qualified teachers, instructional materials and furniture.

The Kwara State government has said it has been spending between N25 to N30 million on the payment of NECO examination fees for students in public secondary schools. Though the government disclosed that it hasn’t been paying the WAEC exam fees for students. The state Commissioner for Education, Engineer Musa Yeketi, said this while speaking with our correspondent.

Kwara State government is paying the NECO exam fees of Kwara students in public secondary schools who sat for our mock examination and passed same which we used to assess them. If a student doesn’t pass his or her mock examination, it is likely that such student won’t pass the NECO exam as well. 

The mock examination is the criteria for selecting those that will benefit from the NECO fees paid by the government. The government has been paying and will continue to pay. 

Government has been paying for the exam for a long time and we are already expecting it to give approval for the conduct of the 2017/2018 mock to determine how many students will benefit for the next year payment.

On the average, every year government has been spending between N25 and N30 million in the payment of NECO exam fees. Before, it used to be all students but we discovered that many were not serious which is why we introduced the mock exam to screen them. 

Students who passed their mock usually pass their NECO exams and it has been improving yearly.

"We register about 25,000 students for NECO yearly," the commissioner said.

Some parents who spoke on the matter commended that state government and further solicited for inclusion of WAEC fees.

In Oyo, government has stopped payment of school certificate exams fees for students.

The state commissioner for Education, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela, said the government stopped payment of WAEC and NECO since many students were not taking the examination seriously because it was for free.

He revealed that the last amount paid for WAEC and NECO by the state government was N60 million, adding that government discovered that payment of students’ exam fees made many of them lazy.

According to the commissioner, after the exams, many of the students usually said, "we have gone to set Governor Ajimobi’s money ablaze" which literarily meant they didn’t write anything in the examination halls. 

He said the state didn’t only stop payment for WAEC and NECO but also stopped double promotion, saying any student who wanted to move ahead has to work for his promotion.

Source: Daily Trust