The Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, has said that his administration refunded over N87 million to parents whose wards earned more than five credits in their Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), as part of the state’s efforts to support students in the state.
He said this at the inaugural edition of the NAN forum in Katsina State, organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Masari said that his government had made some changes to the system set up by the previous administration where the government covered the payment of examinations organised by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
He said that upon taking office, he decided that his administration would only fund WAEC for students who scored five credits and above in the state’s qualifying exam.
He said, “We have recorded significant performance of our students in external examinations which is a yardstick for us to assess whether our ‘Restoration Agenda’ in education is working or not.
“And we believe it is working because when we came into government, the totality of pupils who sat for WAEC examination, the maximum they were having was 11 percent.
“In NECO examination, the maximum recorded was 20 percent. That is going back if you take average of 2007 up to 2014, even 2015.
“But today, what we introduced is that there has to be a qualifying examination.
“During our time, before you sit for WAEC you have to sit for mock examination to assess how many students can be presented with the hope of them getting the requirements needed for tertiary institutions.
“It was a decision that we took and some said it was not politically wise.
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“But I said it is politically more wise (sic) because it is better I present 30,000 students if I can get 70 percent performance of those who have five credits and above to go to higher institutions than to present 58,000 students, with only 5,000 successful.
“That was what was happening before because the previous government had a policy of paying for WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations for everybody.
“I said no, we will only pay for WAEC for only those who score five credits and above in our qualifying examination.
For those who have three credits, we will pay NECO for them but I will not pay for WAEC.
“However, this is a decision of government but parents who feel in between the qualifying examination and the WAEC or NECO, they will recruit teachers to privately coach their children, if they succeed in getting five credits and above, we will refund and some did.
“The first refund we made was over N87 million, which we paid back to such parents.
“Now, this last examination, for WAEC, we had 69 percent, for NECO we had 91 percent.
“So, if by presenting 30,000 students we are getting 69 percent, I think we have a huge number.
“If this process continues, our next challenge will be higher institutions that can accommodate and absorb them.”
