Anambra State government has turned down the demand by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) that 70 post Primary Schools should pay a fine of N500,000.00 each for their involvement in alleged examination malpractices.
Recall that last year the examination body had flagged 70 schools over malpractices and withheld the results of the students.
According to the Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chinwude, the action of WAEC is a rip-off on the schools in the state adding that the punishment is being visited on innocent students while those alleged to have committed the crime had long graduated.
“It makes no sense because those involved in the alleged examination malpractices have long graduated and you are punishing those that are innocent and this is unacceptable to the state government”
“We have directed the affected schools not to pay because tomorrow they would come again with another fine and soon Anambra state schools would become a cash cow in the hands of WAEC and this we do not want”
“We are not in support of students being involved in examination malpractices and we have zero tolerance to such acts but to punish those that were not involved in that act is injustice,” she said.
Chinwude further noted that” there are other equivalent examinations students can sit for and we have not heard of any other state that has been flagged by WAEC and Anambra state cannot be singled out for such punishment”
