Malpractices: WAEC cancels SSCE, NECO exams in 37 Benue centers

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has delisted 37 secondary schools in Benue State for alleged examination malpractices.
The implication is that the affected schools have been removed from the list of schools that are centers for the Senior School Certificate of Education (SSCE) as well as the National Examination Council (NECO) examination.
The state government also observed that even though 164 schools in the state were involved in one form of malpractice or the other, the 37 delisted are those schools said to be neck deep in malpractice.
Prof. Dennis Ityavyar, Benue State Commissioner for Education who disclosed this while speaking to newsmen in his office yesterday, however explained that the state would sanction 38 principals in connection with incidences of examination malpractices in the state.
The commissioner explained that the ministry has concluded plans to demote 37 principals of the affected schools as part of measures to ensure sanity in the system.
He further stated that in addition, one other principal would also be sanctioned alongside the thirty seven others for a similar offense.
Prof. Ityavyar noted that even though the 38th school was not delisted, the examination body identified some sharp practices in the school, hence the decision of government to sanction the principal of the school, to serve as a deterrent to others.
He stressed that government decided it would penalise the principals for the disrepute they brought upon the system and the state, adding that henceforth anyone identified to be involved in any sharp practices would get an outright sack.
Prof. Ityavyar also noted that government has put in place modalities to restore order in the education system in the state and would not spare anyone that toys with it.
He noted that because of the value government places on the education system, it injected a lot of resources into the sector for the construction and renovation of classrooms in the state.
Ityavyar said it was as a result of this that government closed down over 2,000 mushroom schools in the state, so as to ensure that schools offering education in Benue started on a solid foundation.