Kogi
House of Assembly on Thursday called for abolition of the Transition
Examination from Junior Secondary School (JSS) to Senior Secondary
School (SSS) classes in schools across the state.
The assembly
made the call in a resolution following the adoption of a motion calling
on the state government to abolish multiple examination system being
operated by the state Ministry of Education and its agencies.
Mr
Linus Eneche (PDP-Olamaboro), who moved the motion at the plenary in
Lokoja, said that the transition examination had no relevance and any
direct impact on the educational development of students.
Eneche
said that the education ministry, vested with the mandate of providing
policy framework for smooth operation of the primary, secondary and
tertiary institutions, ought to take cognisance of resources available
to parents and guardians.
He frowned at what he described as
“exploitative duplication of examinations” in secondary education in the
state “all in the name of preparing the pupils for WAEC, NECO or
NAPTEB”.
“We have secondary examinations as the Transition
Examination, Mock Examination, WAEC, NECO and Promotional Examination
from SS2 to SS3.
“These examinations take place simultaneously, paid for and in most cases, not marked.”
Eneche
said that the transition examination, which was a duplication of the
third term promotion examination, was introduced when the state
government took over payment of WAEC fees as instrument for selecting
candidates.
“Whereas the Kogi State Government has already
withdrawn its sponsorship of candidates for the aforementioned
examination (WAEC), coupled with the economic realities of recession at
the micro and macro levels, this examination is no longer feasible”, he
said.
He urged government to reduce the burden on parents in view
of the prevailing economic and social realities which had made it
impossible for them to pay for transition examination, Mock, WAEC NECO
and three terminal examinations within one year.
Seconding the motion, Hassan Abdullahi (APC-Dekina-Okura) said that the transition examination, among many others, had no value.
He said that constituents had often confronted state legislators with requests to assist with payment of WAEC and NECO fees.
Supporting
the motion, Sunday Shigaba (PDP-Bassa) said that the psychological
effect of stopping or withholding a student from writing an examination
on account of his parents’ inability to pay the fees could be traumatic.
In
his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Alhaji Umar Imam, agreed that the
burden on civil servants with more than one child in schools to pay all
the fees in one fell swoop was enormous. (NAN)
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