Amosun fires workers over examination question

The Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has ordered the sacking of six officials of the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, including a secondary school teacher, over alleged offensive examination question.

Amosun

Those sacked include two Grade Level 17 officers, Mrs. Folashade Oresegun, who was the Director, Education Support Services, and Mr. Rotimi Odunsi, who was the Director, Curriculum Development and Evaluation, and a Grade Level 16 officer, Mr. Majekodunmi Oluwole.

Others are a Grade Level 10 officer, Mr. E.O. Asegbe, a Grade Level 8 officer, Taylor Damilola , and an English Language teacher in Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne, Mr. Joel Adegbenro.

The sacking of both Oresegun and Odunsi has been converted to compulsory retirement while the four others were summarily dismissed.

Our correspondent gathered that their offence might not be unconnected with a comprehension passage in the English Language examination conducted by the ministry for the Unified Examination in Public Secondary Schools for the third term of the 2014/2015 academic session.

The offensive section was Section C, where the pupils were asked to summarise a comprehension passage on a policy defect on education.

It was alleged that it was considered too critical of the state government.

The section partly read, “There is no arguing about the fact that the government is merely paying lip service to the development of education. It is true that a lot of money is being spent on the education sector but with little or no impact felt by the people, except where we want to deceive ourselves.

“Many schools run by the government, which were formerly known for academic excellence have suddenly lost their prestige and are living on past glories. No wonder, many parents and guardians are threateningly left with only one option, to withdraw their wards from these schools to other ones that are better managed.

“The evidences to show that the government is not doing enough to assist in the development of education are many. Even pupils in both primary and secondary schools can volunteer a good list on their finger tips.

“One of the numerous indications is the government’s inability to pay running cost to schools. The running cost is the token amount per pupil paid to school administrators to run the affairs of the school in a term. This has been neglected to pile up for several academic sessions.

“Another one is the regular poor conduct of terminal examinations. These examinations are not usually conducted as and when due. The government may have one excuse or the other, but real educationists know that appropriate timing is a strong factor in the process of Continuous Assessment (CA) of students. Thus, a situation, where for instance, the first term examination is shifted to second term is an outright departure from the norms and ethics of Continuous Assessment.”

The summary passage was said to have been culled from Jola Adegbenro’s Issues on Education Today.

The governor and some other top government officials were allegedly angry with this section, which they believed made a veiled reference to what obtained in the state.

Consequently, the embattled officials were invited to Abeokuta last week to face a disciplinary panel set up by the state Bureau of Establishment and Training, where they were quizzed.

The state’s Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle, while reacting to the sacking, said the government followed the due process “because the affected officials were given opportunity to defend themselves.”

She said, “I am aware that not all of them were dismissed, some had their appointment terminated and some were compulsorily retired.

“When the issue came up, the state government put in the necessary process, a panel was set up to investigate and based on their recommendations, the state Civil Service Commission has to decide. It is a decision that has been relayed to the affected officers.

“The normal process was that a panel was set up, the report was forwarded to the Civil Service Commission for the civil servants, the Teaching Service Commission, for the teachers.

“The decision was in line with the civil service rule, due process was followed to the latter.”

Amosun fires workers over examination question

WAEC releases 13 states results previously withheld

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released the withheld results of its candidates who sat for this year’s May/June West African Secondary Certificate Examination, (WASSCE) in 13 states.

The results were withheld by the examination body because of debts.

GCE students being screened

Briefing reporters in Abuja on the development, Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Mr. Charles Eguridu said as of press time that the result will be uploaded on WAEC’s website in the next 24 hours.

Eguridu explained that the decision to release the results was due to appeals from stakeholders, including parents, the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) and notable Nigerians.

At the meeting was the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, who according to Eguridu, has indicated that the forum will positively resolve the matter as soon as possible.

According to him,  our decision to open this window of opportunity, that is the resort to advance payment guarantees for affected states, was as a result of our appreciation of the prevailing economic challenges facing the nation and in order not to jeopardise the  progress of the candidates of the affected states.

“However, following appeals from our stakeholders, including parents, the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, notable Nigerians, other well -meaning citizens and most importantly, the intervention of secretariat of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, through the directive of its Chairman  and Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, who has indicated that the forum will positively resolve the matter as soon as possible. We have decided to hearken to appeals and review our earlier position’’.

WAEC releases 13 states results previously withheld

Breaking news: NECO to introduce CBT in subsequent exams - Board chairman

The National Examination Council (NECO) will introduce Computer-Based Test (CBT) in objective papers of its subsequent examinations, says Dr Paddy Njoku, the Chairman, NECO Governing Board. Njoku made this known on Thursday in Abuja during the board’s monitoring visit to the Model Secondary School, Maitama, centre of NECO Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.

GCE students being screened

He said he was impressed with the progress of the examination as students and teachers conducted themselves well. The chairman said that the visit was informed by the fact that today’s paper — Mathematics — was compulsory for all the students.

“We will introduce CBT in papers that need computer in the next exams, but some other subjects are either practical or essay; so you cannot put everything under CBT.

“Mathematics is compulsory; so the hall will be full; that is why we decided to inspect them today.

“We do about four levels of monitoring; we have invigilators’ supervisors, security men and external monitors drawn from institutions of higher learning, who independently, monitor without getting involved in the administration of the examination.

“The board comes out to monitor and get direct assessment of the situation so that nobody tells stories and all these we do to ensure very strict control of our examination.’’ Njoku said that reports from all over the country indicated that the examination was going on fine.

He said the performance of students in the examination had improved over the last two years based on students who made five credits, including Mathematics and English. According to him, the performance will continue to improve “since the rot created over the years will take some time to fix”.

He blamed dwindling performance of students on the quality of teachers, adding that efforts were being made to address the problem. “ If we do not get the correct materials to teach the students in terms of teacher quality, we do not expect the students to do wonders. “We are trying to encourage, in our own way; the authorities to make sure that teachers are properly motivated to produce good students.

“We have to look at the quality and commitment of teachers and to make sure they are properly trained. “It is something that should be done in conjunction with other stakeholders,’’ he said. On his part, NECO Registrar, Prof. Abdulrashid Garba, said that in 2016, all objective examinations of the body would be CBT. He said he had been visiting schools in various states, adding that the visit to Model Secondary School, Maitama, was the Board’s monitoring.

“ In the schools visited so far, we have not seen anything that can cause disturbance; it has been complete compliance with the rules of the examination. “All centres in Nigeria have been adequately secured; in special areas like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, extra security measure have also been taken.’’ Garba said that 975, 991 students were taking the examination nationwide. According to him, the results will be released 60 days from the date of the last paper which comes up on July 10.

 

Breaking news: NECO to introduce CBT in subsequent exams - Board chairman