The Oyo State government has explained why it is insisting on sanctioning parents and principals of about 50 schools delisted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over examination malpractices in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Abiodun Abdu-Raheem, while addressing newsmen on Tuesday, November 29, explained that the sanction will reinforce the state’s stance against examination malpractices.
He, therefore, warned principals to desist from encouraging examination malpractices which he said was becoming endemic in both private and public schools in the state.
His words: “It should be noted that the Oyo State government has zero tolerance for examination malpractices, therefore, principals and teachers of both private and public schools and parents were earlier warned to desist from any act of collaboration on examination malpractices as sanctions would be meted to concerned staff and parents”.
Abiodun disclosed that it is only WAEC that has the authority to release withheld results of schools that have been indicted in malpractices in the state.
He further disclosed that the derecognised schools will not be permitted to present candidates for WAEC for two years.
“However, this does not debar students of such schools from sitting for the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC), as they are mobilised to the nearest school to write the WAEC; only the identified school is derecognised as a WAEC Centre.
“It should be noted that the government of Oyo State will waste no time to investigate any of such occurrence, while the necessary punishments as enumerated above will be meted to anyone found guilty”, the commissioner stressed.
He advised heads of both public and private institutions in the state to desist from any act that could ridicule their schools and portray the image of the state in a bad light.
Abdu-Raheem also assured residents that no student in the state will be prevented from writing the WAEC in the 2022/2023 academic session and subsequent years.
