By Dipo Awojobi – As part of efforts to curb examination malpractices in public and private secondary schools in the on-going West African Senior School Certificate Examination, the Lagos State Government has concluded plans to send out different teams for an unscheduled visit to various Senior Secondary Schools during the examinations in order to ensure that malpractices is eradicated or reduced to the barest minimum.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs Olabisi Ariyo, stated this during an impromptu visit to Living Stone College, Oke-Ira, Ogba to supervise the students during the objective session of English Language in the on-going examination, noting that as a seasoned teacher and invigilator, she knows that it is easy and common place to cheat during objective sessions of the two compulsory subjects of English and Mathematics.
Ariyo urged all School Proprietors to maintain a high standard of education in the state by grooming their students properly before the examination rather than resort to helping them to cheat.
She emphasized that the desire of the State Government is to ensure that the students, as leaders of tomorrow, are given high quality education in order to inculcate in them the virtues of hard-work, self –confidence and truthfulness, which is not only in their own interest but also of the State and the Nation at large.
The Permanent Secretary promised that the present administration would deploy all resources at its disposal to prevent a recurrence of the ugly incident of last year when the West African Examination Council sanctioned 30 Secondary Schools in Lagos State over alleged involvement in examination malpractices during the May/June 2015 Senior School Certificate Examination.
The visiting team led by Mrs Ariyo also included the Permanent Secretary, Teachers’ Establishment and Pensions Office, Mrs Sewanu Amosu, the Senior Special Assistant to His Excellency on Education, Mrs Abiola Ayeni and the Director, Public Affairs, Adesegun Ogundeji.
