As exit students prepare for their examinations billed for August 17, the Kwara State government on Friday, warned school authorities and parents against examination malpractices under any guise.
“Anyone caught would be punished,” the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Fatimah Ahmed, said at a meeting of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, ANCOPSS, proprietors of private schools, and the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, in Ilorin.
“As we all know, the examinations will start on August 17, 2020, you should all go back home and relay this warning to all your invigilators.”
The commissioner urged school authorities and parents to encourage students to prepare very well for the forthcoming examinations rather than look forward to a system that aids and abets cheating.
“Secret invigilators and intelligence officers will be everywhere to ensure compliance. Not only that, anti-corruption agencies would also be moving around without notice.
“Anybody caught aiding and abetting examination malpractice or involved in any form of sharp practices will be punished according to the law of the land,” she added.
According to her, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had to pay N30.5m penalties imposed on the state following WAEC’s blacklist of 165 Kwara schools over rampant examination malpractices in 2019, a behaviour that the governor would no longer condone under his watch.
“The break occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic will not be an excuse to allow students cheat during the forthcoming examinations,” the Commissioner declared.
She announced that Junior Secondary School class three students would resume on Monday ahead of their examinations in September.
State president of ANCOPSS, Toyin Abdullahi, said the body would not be a party to examination malpractices and directed its members not to stay in their respective schools during the examinations.
“On no account should any principal stay in their schools during examinations. There will be no hidden places for principals aiding and abetting examination malpractices,” he added.
Dr Adetunji Abdulrahman, President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, described the examination malpractices that occurred last year as “embarrassing.”
“We have told our people that we must nip the ugly incidents in the bud. It will never repeat itself. We have organised ourselves into a task force and engaged security agencies to also assist us,” he disclosed.
