DELTA State Government has demoted 41 secondary school teachers in the state over their involvement in examination malpractices in the 2019 West African Examination Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Patrick Ukah, Delta Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education made this known in a statement adding that the demotions are part of recommendations by the State’s Examination Ethics Disciplinary Committee.
“They are to suffer deferment of promotion by one year and banned from the supervision of any school examination for a period of three years,” Ukah said.
“I have directed the Post Primary Education Board to implement the deferment of promotions by one year for the 41 affected teachers.”
He added that principals and examinations officers of 13 public secondary schools and one private school have also been issued letters of warning in connection to examination malpractice.
“The principals and examination officers of 13 public secondary schools and one private secondary school indicted for examination malpractice are to be issued with letters of warning by PPEB to desist from acts of negligence,” the Commissioner said.
Examination malpractice is a serious challenge in the Nigerian education sector and has continued to grow secondary schools.
An ICIR investigation had revealed how Bachel College, a private secondary school in Lagos State with the aid of its teachers and WAEC officials cheated in the 2019 examination.
In 2018, Kogi State Government banned 47 schools from presenting candidates in the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) after disqualification by WAEC.
Rosemary Osikoya, Kogi State Commissioner for Education, said the disqualification was due to their habitual involvement in examination malpractice.
Earlier in February, WAEC also delisted 37 schools in Benue State over allege3d examination malpractice, according to the Dennis Ityavyar, State Commissioner for Education,
He added the State Ministry of Education has also concluded plans to demote the 37 principals of the affected schools as part of measures to ensure sanity in the system.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94