The Scourge Of Examination Bodies

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) is well recognised by many people in virtually all  the Anglophone West African sub-region.

The reason for this popularity is because the body is responsible for the conduct of examinations thus determining the fate of thousands of candidates in the pursuit of their academic and professional ideals. The increase of examination fees by WAEC in recent times to N500 and above therefore should reflect the improved chance of candidates to register for examinations with ease and the accomplishment of their goals without putting too much strain on the candidates’ families and guardians.

But instead of council to alleviate the financial pressure exerted on the people it has failed to consider the inequality that exists amongst the people. The increase in examination fees implicitly means that any candidates from a poor family may not be able to register for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination and other academic and professional examinations such as JAMB, Business Health and Catering examinations. This has been made more cumbersome by the cost of their overhead expenses.

The breakdown of the expenses is as follows: examination fee N500.00 commissions on postal order N500.00; self-addressed stamped envelopes N100.00; passport photographs and transport expenses N1,500.00  or above. This is a conservative estimate, it may be higher in some instances.

But the above ordeal which WAEC has made candidates to go through can be abolished or minimised by the creation of cash centres where candidates can pay cash and at the same time collect their entry forms instead of being subjected to other tedious procedures like buying of bank drafts stamps etc.

There is need for WAEC to charge less fees to enable candidates from less privileged “ homes to participate fully during examination periods. In this era of providing education for all, it would be necessary that the reduction of examination fees by WAEC would also be beneficiary and benevolent in achieving this objective since by so doing many candidates would enter into examinations. The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board has been observed to be another high profit making body. A conservative estimate of JAMB’s harvest on sales of forms for 2009 UME and PCE examinations alone was put at ten million naira (N10m) considering the figure of 300,000 and 400,000 for the two examinations respectively. This amount does not include fees paid by those applying for direct entry admission.

According to MR. CHARLES NWOKO said that government should release NECO examination form prices, apart from skyrocket the price that if we compare the market women who is selling in the market all things suppose to be minimised while WAEC charging over N14,000.00 to N16,000.00 being school fees for the year.

It is therefore mandatory to ask JAMB and WAEC to publish their audit of accounts income and expenditure, this is to enable us assess the financial commitment they have put into the examination body and to ascertain and justify their duties.

WAEC and JAMB should be able to convince all the candidates who enter for examinations of the amount of money spent apart from the subvention received from the government. And why they should charge more than expectation for each of its examinations; why it considers other expense to be shouldered by the candidates themselves, the cost of printing of examination papers notwithstanding for example, the price of the GCE form N 6,200, NECO N 7,200 and UME N 5,000.

With the exorbitant cost of examination fees, one would have thought that everything is guaranteed, but this is far from the truth with every passing year, cases of delay in receiving examination notices and examination results is rampant thus deflating the aspiration of candidates for academic and career pursuits.

Nigerians, especially during this period of examination always go the very length to cheat their fellow compatriots. Observers said that some post offices and other establishment where JAMB and PCE forms are offered for sales to candidates are being hoarded by unscrupulous officials. These forms are instead sold at astronomical prices, thus making extra money for themselves at the detriment of the candidates.

However, the only solution to this problem of loss of confidence in this examination body is to reconstitute it. The sub-regional governments should re-organise WAEC and ensure that it performs its duties and objectives as required of it. Workers of the examination bodies should be disciplined and made accountable to the candidates whose aspiration they need to guarantee. The profits made by the examination body should be re-invested in purchasing printing machines, materials and provision of conducive conditions during examinations and for sending prompt notices, information and results to candidates on time.

Prince Sintrials Etim