Protest As Katsina State Government Stop Payment 0f WAEC And NECO Fees

Hundreds of Students in Katsina State, on Thursday, protested
against the plan by the state government to stop the
payment of the West African Examinations Council and
National Examinations Council (waec&Neco) fees.

The Students, who chanted and carried placards, marched to
the Government House to protest against the plan.
One of the Students, Kabir Hassan, said the plan, if allowed to
sail through, would frustrate many of them from seeking
admission to higher institutions of learning.
According to Hassan, the majority of the pupils in public
schools in the state are from poor homes, and so cannot
pay the examination fees without the government
assistance.
He also called for a review of the mock examination
conducted for final year pupils, noting that there were
irregularities in the exercise.
The irregularity, he alleged, resulted in the mass failure
recorded in the examination.

The state government had introduced mock test for its final-
year pupils following massive failure recorded in WAEC and
NECO exams.
The state added that it would only pay the WAEC and NECO
fees of those that passed the test.

Our correspondent gathered that only 10 per cent out of the
46,000 Students that sat for the test obtained three credits and
above that would empower them to enjoy the sponsorship.
The state government decided that, rather than waste
limited resources, it would pay WAEC and NECO fees for
only those that got three credits and above in the mock
exams.

Addressing the protesters, the Chief of Staff to the governor,
Dikko Raddah, said the test was introduced to cut cost and
channel resources into other needs.
According to Dikko Raddah, rather than waste limited resources,
the state will pay WAEC and NECO fees for only those that
have three credits and above in the mock exams.
He added that the investment of about N22bn in education
in the state was targeted at reviving the sector.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Sa'adiya Idris, also
said paying for pupils that would not pass the examinations
was a wasteful venture.