The Common Transition examination was introduced by the PDP administration in Kogi state for students in Senior Secondary Schools two as a prerequisite for the payment of WAEC for the students. The idea was greeted with applause by parents. The students are to pay certain amount raging from #300 to #3,500 for the exam. Still part of the condition is that the students who sat for the transition exam must pass English and maths at credit grade to qualify for WAEC payment.
Lately, payment of WAEC by the state government has stopped but the students are still made to pay for transition even at this critical period. As a teacher, I sampled the opinion of my students, who complained of lack of finance to pay for the exam. They also lamented the stoppage of WAEC fee by state government while they the students are forced to pay for transition. The essence of the transition in the first place was to get the data of the students for onward payment of their WAEC fee, now that the payment is not forth coming from the state government, what is the need for paying for the transition? One of the students asked angrily.
“I don’t even know if I will be able to pay for my WAEC since there is no money, I still owed school fees and now to pay for transition again, I can’t” another student exclaimed.
I wish to call on the state government to look into the issue urgently by stopping the transition examination, as it has become an avenue for extorting from the students.
– Lawal O. James writes from Lokoja
