By Stephen Adeleye.
Mr Levi Ocheni, Director, Planning Research and Statistics (PRS), Kogi Ministry of Education Science and Technology, on Saturday said that the conduct of the 2019 Common Entrance Examination (CEE) recorded a remarkable improvement compared to the past ones.
Mr Levi Ocheni, Director, Planning Research and Statistics (PRS) of the ministry, disclosed this to newsmen at the end of the 2019 CEE in Anyigba, Dekina Local Government Area.
Ocheni, who monitored the conduct of the CEE in some centres in Ofu and Dekina LGAs, said no fewer than 32,000 pupils participated in the 2019 entrance examination.
“We have not less than 32,000 pupils that participated in the exam across the state. There are compliance and orderliness in school centres that we visited during the exam.
“The children are well behaved, and teachers are all around to give their support which had made the examination to be conducted accordingly,” Ocheni said.
He said that the only challenge experienced was the shortage of exam question papers, which according to him was the fault of the affected schools.
He urged all schools in the state to always respond positively and timely to every instruction and guidelines within the given time frame for any exam for effective planning.
Also speaking, Mr Matthew Omiachi, the Zonal Education Evaluator, Bassa and Dekina LGAs, said about 4,500 candidates wrote the CEE in the zone.
Omiachi said that the conduct of the exam was fair as children were not running up and down before they could locate their centres.
“We did not receive any complain from parents compared to the past, everything was orderly; so, there is a great improvement,” Omiachi said.
He however said that the only challenge encountered was the shortage of exam question papers in some centres due to the inability of some schools to submit the total number of registered candidates on time.
“The shortage of exam question papers is the fault of the affected schools and not the ministry or the government,” he said.
On his part, Mrs Regina Igomuh, Chairperson of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Dekina LGA, commended the commissioner for the transformation she has brought to the state education sector within a short period.
Igomuh, who doubles as the Proprietress of Power Groups of Schools, expressed gratitude to the ministry for using her school as one of the centres for the CEE, while commending the state government for the remarkable improvement in the exam.
Mr John Ayomayowa, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), commended the state government for the tremendous improvement in this year’s conduct of entrance examination.
