The National Examinations Council (NECO), has attributed the low incidence of examination malpractices in the examinations recently conducted by the Council to the increased monitoring of the examinations by members of its governing board, the management and its senior staff.
The council Registrar, Prof. Godswill Obioma, who disclosed this during the announcement of the results of the 2020 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) for External Candidate, said that 6,465 cases of examination malpractice were recorded in the 2020 SSCE External as against 17,004 cases in 2019.
“One examination centre in Ogun State has been de-recognised for intimidation and several attempts to induce NECO officials as well as aiding and abetting examination malpractice.
According to Obioma, in line with the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, four supervisors who were found culpable of aiding and abetting malpractice had been blacklisted and would no longer be engaged in the conduct of NECO examinations.
The registrar who reiterated the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, noted that appropriate standards and excellence were maintained right from the planning stage to the release of the results of the 2020 SSCE External.
Obioma said that the results of 256,000 candidates who missed some papers during the 2020 SSCE (Internal) due to the ENDSARS Protests in some states and who sat for those papers during the 2020 SSCE (internal) have also been released along with those of the external candidates.
It will be recalled that NECO recently released the results of the 2020 SSCE External according to which a total of 26,277 candidates obained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics while 34,014 candidates also obtained five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
According to the NECO boss, “further analysis of candidates’ performances indicates that a total number of 29,918 obtained credit and above in English Language while a total number of 34,061 candidates obtained credit and above in Mathematics.”
The Registrar stated that year 2020 ushered in very daunting challenges essentially occasioned by COVID-19 Pandemic and the ENDSARS Protests which affected the pursuit of the Council’s mandates.
He said this necessitated the rescheduling of the various examinations being organised by NECO. Among these examinations were the 2020 SSCE (External) which ought to have been concluded in November/December 2020 but which held in February/March 2021.
According to him, “in spite of these, we were not deterred rather we remained resilient and resolute in the conduct of our activities”.
The registrar reiterated the council’s commitment to conducting credible examinations to improve the quality of education in the country.
“In view of the above, and based on approval of the Federal Ministry of Education, NECO has scheduled her public examinations for year 2021 as follows:
- “National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for admission of JSS 1 students into Federal Unity Colleges is scheduled for May 29.
- “Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal is scheduled from July 5 to Monday, Aug. 16.
- Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is scheduled for Aug. 23 to Monday, Sept. 6 in order to enable students at that level cover enough subject matter for the examination.