From: Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Ogun State Government has been urged to discontinue the payment of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Examination fees for its candidates.
Instead, parents have been encouraged to pay the examination fees of their wards, as doing so will raise the level of their responsibility and responsiveness on their children, thus improving performance in the overall results.
These were contained in a 28-paragraph communiqué issued at the end of a two-day Education Summit organised by the state government.
Participants at the summit which took place between May 22 and 23, 2017, unanimously agreed that funds saved from the discontinued payment of the WAEC fees should be re-directed to other needy areas.
The Ogun State Government paid N489, 792,695 in 2016 as WAEC fees for its 41,421 candidates.
Also, the participants, urged the government to increase the 20% budget allocation on yearly basis for the Education Sector to meet the 26 per cent UNESCO benchmark.
The state government was equally enjoined to set up its own Education Trust Fund that would assist it in the delivery of its qualitative and affordable education with unbridled access by indigent students.
“The State Government should establish a Tertiary Admission Monitoring Committee to monitor the application and admission of Ogun State indigenes to tertiary institutions, thus, taking full advantage of admission opportunities available to the state and her qualified candidates across board”, the communiqué stated.
It was also agreed that “TETFUND allocation in the State should be directed at projects that would add value to education at the tertiary level, while “The State Government is enjoined to set up Examination Ethics Group to monitor Computer Based Test centres and other Examination venues to ensure that all forms of sharp practices, irregularities and examination malpractices are eliminated.”
The State Government was also enjoined to re-position the provision of education using critical ICT skills for teaching, learning, examination, reviews and other deliverables.
It was also agreed that emphasis must now be placed on skills acquisition in schools to improve the State education advancement and enhance mass acquisition of knowledge and information.
Government was advised to put in place industrial-driven vocational training and to properly equip the technical colleges to fast-track skills acquisition and make graduates from that sub-sector readily employable.
It was also agreed upon by participants that trainees in the Technical colleges should be made to spend 30% in school and 70% in companies on internship.
Meanwhile, the communiqué, tasked the state government to enhance security in the public schools by constructing perimeter fences and employing guidance counsellors to mentor the students.
“In addressing school security, the government is urged to employ Guidance Counsellors, put in place counselling units and mentoring of students, provision of school perimeter fence, survey of school lands, issuance of C of O’s and putting up Education Security Trust Fund to draw fund for school security”, it added.
The more than 2,000 participants at the two-day summit were drawn from private and public schools, Parent Teachers Associations, market women, religious associations, State Universal Basic Education Board, Teaching Service Commission, past commissioners and permanent secretaries.