The Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO) Prof. Godswill Obioma has expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance of schools to the COVID-19 Protocols.
The NECO Registrar was speaking during an inspection tour to some schools in Minna, Niger State where the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) for Junior Secondary School Pupils 3 (JSS3) is being held.
Obioma confirmed to reporters that the schools he visited had complied with all COVID-19 guidelines, while noting that some areas where there are lapses have been identify for immediate corrections.
During the tour in Minna, the Registrar visited the El-Amin International College, Police Secondary School and the Federal Government College, where the students were sitting for culture and creative arts.
Obioma said: “ With my colleagues, I have monitored the students writing examinations, I sampled two government schools, a federal government college, a security school and private school to make it balanced.
“We went round to make sure we have drawn out for them and complied with and the measures of observance of COVID-19 protocols are complied with.
“We had specified that students come with their face masks, wash hands in the school and have hand sanitiser and I am impressed with what I have seen in the schools I have gone to including where I am currently. They follow the guidelines to the latter. Our interest is to make sure that the physical spacing is complied with. That is what happened here and in other schools too.”
Obioma further explained that NECO is adopting prognostic monitoring where any infraction or non-compliance is addressed on the spot.
“Post-moterm monitoring is classical and obsolete, this is why NECO is now adopting prognostic monitoring where anywhere we meet certain infractions we correct them on the spot.
We have asked the principal to create space, there are enough classes for them to write the examinations since not all students are back to school. And we expect them to comply with these protocols.”
He also informed that the BECE is taking place nationwide, and 138,550 students are participating in the exams, while saying it was a dress-rehearsal for how SSCE would be conducted in October.
“This is a dry run to the SSCE because it is similar in scope and size for SSCE. We expect that one or two million people will register for the SSCE, but this one is a dry run and whatever challenges we experience now, we will find solutions to it with the bid of improving our performance during the SSCE.”
Kama Vincent, the Principal of El-Amin International School, stated that they were adequate supervisors and invigilators to monitor the pupils during the examination.
He added that the school had put all COVID-19 protocols measures which has been strictly followed.
