Private school proprietors in Ogun State have raised concerns over what they described as stringent conditions imposed by the state government before granting clearance for students to register for the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

The proprietors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, warned that over 70 per cent of students in private schools across the state could miss this year’s WASSCE if the issues are not urgently addressed.

They alleged that while schools in other states had largely completed registration with the West African Examinations Council, private schools in Ogun State were facing administrative challenges arising from new compliance requirements.

One of the proprietors said the dispute centres on the mandatory requirement for students to possess a Learner Identification Number before being registered for WASSCE.

“The issue we are having with the government revolves around making it mandatory for the students to be registered for the WASSCE to have a Learner Identification Number.

“Though the LIN is usually given to the students by the government once enrolled in any school in the state, be it public or private, there has been so much chaos, complaints and challenges with the online platform through which these numbers are generated.

“We were formerly on OGSERA, but recently we have migrated to DIPER. However, there have been so many problems with the platform; some students whose names were originally registered on the platform can no longer find their names.”

He further stated that the government had directed that Senior Secondary School 3 students who transferred from other states and did not have LIN must present additional documentation.

“The government has also demanded that the SS3 students who probably migrated from another state into the state and join our schools in SS2 and are without the LIN should produce their JSS3 certificates in addition to their first, second and third term results which they obtained in their former schools while they were in SS1 and SS2 before such students could be registered for WASSCE,” he added.

According to him, meeting the requirements within the limited timeframe is impractical.

“We are even wondering where all of these conditions are coming from because this is not the case in any state around us.

“And even if we say that we want to fulfil these conditions, the time is not just there. Some of these students may not even be able to produce their results because of some circumstances that may be beyond their control.

“We are saying that the government should allow us to register these children because the time they rolled out these policies and the time for implementation is too short.

“We therefore plead with the government to shelve this policy for now because if the government fails to shift ground, nothing less than 70 per cent of students in private schools in the state will not sit for the examination.”

Another proprietor corroborated the concerns, describing the implementation timeline as unrealistic.

“We also want the state to move forward, but our policies must wear a human face.

“Asking us to produce the SS1 and SS2 first, second and third term results of students who came from other states and are now in SS3 before we can register them for WASSCE within the time frame is not just realistic.

“The WAEC registration schedule has been extended for about two or three times; the registration can close anytime from now, and that is why we are begging for Governor Dapo Abiodun’s intervention.

“The governor should please prevail on the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, to put on hold this policy until we are given sufficient notice, maybe against next year for the implementation of this policy,” he said.

In a separate statement, another school owner warned that more than 70 per cent of private school SS3 students risk being unable to sit for the examination if the matter was not resolved.

“The major concern is that students who previously had valid LIN (Learners Identity Numbers) on the system are now unable to retrieve or verify them.

“Despite these technical inconsistencies, the state has insisted that no student will be cleared for WAEC registration unless properly validated on the platforms.

“Public policy must always wear a human face. In seeking to correct irregularities within the system, care must be taken not to punish compliant schools and innocent students because of the misconduct of a few,” the school proprietor warned.

A viral message circulating on Sunday and addressed to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly also warned that not fewer than 700,000 private school students might miss the examination if the issues were not resolved.

Responding, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Arigbabu, said the government’s action was aimed at curbing examination malpractice.

He explained that the LIN, introduced about five years ago, was designed to enable the state to maintain comprehensive data on students in both public and private schools.

“Every student schooling in the state is supposed to have the Learner Identification Number. It is what every student is given once you are registered in any school in the state, and this is what we started five years ago, so it is not what you should be looking for when you are in SS3,” the commissioner said.

He dismissed allegations that the policy was punitive.

“Many of these private schools will register all kinds of persons for WASSCE, and I don’t even have problems with that, but most of the candidates registered won’t be the ones sitting for the examination.

“So, if you cannot produce the LIN, we will definitely know that you have something up your sleeves. For those having genuine problems with their LIN as regards the technical glitches, we are addressing that genuinely,” he added.

Arigbabu maintained that while the government was willing to consider genuine complaints, it would not compromise on efforts to sanitise the examination process.

“We are just very keen to sanitise the entire process, and we shall definitely look at those with genuine complaints, but I can tell you that many of those complaining are actually feeling the heat.

“We have continued to block every leakage to fight these challenges and we won’t relent,” he said. (The PUNCH)

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