WAEC blacklist, fine 165 secondary schools in Kwara

Ibrahim Mohammed Funsho

The Executive Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mallam Rafiu Ajakaye has warned any school heads caught perpetrating examination malpractices, noting that such illicit action in the 2019 WAEC has occasioned the blacklist of 165 schools in the state and financial penalties from the examination body.

The sanction was said to be the worst in the history of the state as 122 public secondary schools and 43 private schools were blacklisted with each fined N250,000.

“This administration is sad to note that WAEC has derecognised 165 schools in Kwara because of widespread cases of cheating in the 2019 senior secondary certificate examination in which some top education officials and parents were implicated. This is very unfortunate and this administration will not hesitate to sanction any school heads or officials that ever engage in such conduct in the future.”

“The administration also urges parents to desist from encouraging cheating in the examination. We call on Kwarans to expose this cancer. As a result of such incidents of aiding and abetting of examination malpractices, this administration will now have to pay N30.5m of scarce public resources to get the necessary approval for the affected public schools to host WAEC examinations in the future. This is avoidable. Examination malpractice constitutes some of the worst hindrance to a bright future because it negates the time tested principles of hard work, diligence, and thirst for knowledge and excellence.” Mallam Rafiu Ajakaye concluded.

It is in lieu of the development, the government has scheduled an education summit in the first quarter of 2020 to dissect all the issues affecting the sector and drawing an effective roadmap.