Following the West African Examinations Council’s recent delisting of some secondary schools in Oyo State, there have been a variety of reactions (WAEC).
According to information provided to PulseNets, the testing organisation has delisted no fewer than fifty (50) secondary schools in Oyo State.
Following the recently held exam, the schools were removed from the list.
They included secondary schools in both urban and rural settings, both public and private.
Due to instances of test misconduct, the 50 schools were eliminated from the list of institutions hosting WAEC exams moving forward.
The affected schools according to the list made available to PulseNets included;
- Olodo Community Grammar School, Olodo Ibadan
- Community High School, Kasumu Ajia
- Ilupeju Community High School, Alugbo
- Osegere Olukeye Community High School, Osegere
- Idi-Ito High School, Erunmu
- Owo Community Grammar School, Owo
- Progressive Secondary Grammar School
- Community Secondary School, Oke-Olola, Oyo
- Community Grammar School, Kajorepo
- Community High School, Ajase/Jabata, Ogbomoso
Also in the list are;
- Anglican/ Methodist Secondary School 1, Ajagba Oyo,
- Isepo/Ogidi Community Grammar School, Isepo
- Ireti-Ogo Baptist College, Igboho
- Biokun Alaadun Community Grammar School, Ibadan
- Lagbulu Memorial High School, Kisi
- Urban Day Grammar School, Old Ife Road, Ibadan
- Urban Day Grammar School, Ring Road, Ibadan
- Ansar-Ud-Deen High School, Sango, Ibadan
- Ikolaba High School, Agodi GRA, Ibadan
- Renascent High School, Aremo, Ibadan
Others are;
- Ori-Aje Community Secondary School, Kudeti, Ibadan
- Anglican Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan
- Community Secondary School, Adegbayi, Ibadan
- Community Secondary School, Bioku Alaadun, Ibadan
- Adekile Goodwill Grammar School, Ibadan
- Lagelu Grammar School, Ibadan
- Ola-David Comprehensive College, Badeku, Ibadan
- Mount Sinai College, Adegbayi, Ibadan
- Temidire Oxford College, Monatan, Ibadan
- Ibadan City Model College, Iyana Church, Ibadan
Other schools on the list are;
- Mollyvonne College, Isale Igbajo, Tede
- God’s Blessing College, Oyo
- Graceland College, Moniya, Ibadan
- Honeycomb Comprehensive College, Olukeye town, Asejire, Ibadan
- I-Flier College, Ogungbade Road, Ibadan
- Sure Foundation Model High School, Aba Titi, Ibadan
- International Muslim College, Saki
- Life Line Comprehensive High School Olopometa, Olorunsogo, Ibadan
- Temidire Model School Igidogba Babanla Ibadan
- Glorious College, Amuloko, Ibadan
The rest are;
- Igboora Secondary School, Igboora
- Nawair-Ud-deen Grammar School
- Igboora, Damcos College, Molete, Ibadan
- Benevolent College, Molete, Ibadan
- Sheikh Ibrahim Model College, Ibadan
- Ayobami Comprehensive High School, Odo Oba, Ibadan
- Ayobami International College, Ibadan
- Bolade Model College, Owode
- Shafaudeen Comprehensive College, Wakajaye, Ibadan
- Patimo College, Adesola, Ibadan
According to information obtained by our correspondent, the current development has elicited conflicting responses from stakeholders and members of the public.
While some blamed the development on the government’s incapacity to raise the State’s educational standards, others felt that the State government wasn’t to blame.
Some of the people who talked blamed the trend on the students’ and parents’ failure to teach children to avoid cheating on exams.
A father who went by the name Olaitan asserted that the State’s government was not to blame.
“There is nothing that concerns the government on this. We have both public and private schools that were affected. If the government is to be blamed for the abnormality or examination malpractices in public schools, then can we also blame the government for what happened in private schools?
“We even have schools that are established by religious bodies. Who are the principals or heads of those schools? Are they not Muslims or Christians? It shows the level we found ourselves in the country”.
Adeolu, a different father, encouraged the State government to take immediate action to stop similar incidents from happening again.
He stated that the fault for what occurred must lie with all those involved.
He said, “We cannot totally blame the government, everyone is involved. The government must take drastic measures to avoid future occurrences.
“Parents and guardians must also take drastic measures to discourage their wards from examination malpractices. It is the responsibility of the students themselves to shun examination malpractices.
“So, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders. We must put a stop to this menace for us to move forward in Oyo State. We are known as a pacesetter State and we must continue to uphold the standard”.
Exam fraud is something we will not tolerate —Government of Oyo
Disturbed by the situation, the state government said that it would tolerate no exam fraud.
Principals and parents of recently delisted schools will face sanctions, according to the government.
This caution was issued in Ibadan by Barrister Abiodun Abdu-Raheem, commissioner for education, science, and technology.
The State government would penalise both the principals and parents found to be at fault, according to Abdu-Raheem in a statement made accessible to journalists in Ibadan.
He insisted that the State’s current administration had no tolerance for cheating on exams.
“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.
“It should be noted that the Government of Oyo State will waste no time to investigate any such occurrence, while the necessary punishments as enumerated above will be meted to anyone found guilty,” he said.
Don’t punish teachers or parents, APC urges the administration
According to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the State’s main opposition political party, what transpired is evidence that under the leadership of Engineer Seyi Makinde, the current governor of the State, schools have turned into havens for examination malpractices.
APC revealed this information in a statement that Wasiu Olawale Sadare, its publicity secretary, signed.
In a statement provided to PulseNets in Ibadan, Sadare referred to the delisting of the institutions by WAEC as both undesirable and alarming.
He claimed that since Makinde took office in May 2019, difficulties have been recorded in the State’s education and other vital areas.
Additionally, he said that Makinde had constantly spread false information regarding persons from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada bringing their wards to enrol in the State.
He explained that although there are more students than ever, the State does not have any extra classrooms to accommodate them.
“Little did the people realise that Oyo state had gotten into the wrong hands when the present PDP administration of Governor Seyi Makinde began to paint a picture of success in the education sector at an early stage when they ought to have outlined policies and programmes capable of improving the standard they met on ground. Gov. Makinde and some sponsored agents went to town to mislead the world with wrong information.
“At a point, they repeatedly fed the world with lies about people from United Kingdom, United States, Canada among other developed nations bringing their children and wards for enrollment in Oyo State because, according to them, the superman in the governor had turned all the public primary and secondary schools into ivy league colleges when; in fact, the only thing done was the sensational cancellation of N1,000 per term payment by students in secondary schools- an idea initiated by Abiola Ajimobi administration to aid the laudable activities of the School Governing Boards”.
Sadare forbade the State government from imposing any sanctions on the school’s principal, teachers, or parents of applicants.
He said, “How can a government which had earlier claimed credit for a fake glory in the education sector now turn round to blame its staff for a manifestation of rot in the same system? If any government would blame only the Principals, teachers and parents for examination malpractices in our schools, it must not be the one that is popular for socio-economic and political malpractices. How can a man who has turned his own house into a store where he stocks bags of dried maize stolen from his employer’s farmland blame his wife for the presence of rodents in his living room?
“The virus of examination malpractices has been with us in this society for some decades now but the rate at which it permeates the school system in Oyo State in the last three and a half years leaves much to be desired. Meanwhile, the surge cannot be blamed on any other one than the present PDP administration since it craves encomiums from all and sundry without readiness to provide the required funds for the smooth and effective running of the system”.
