From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has lifted the ban it placed on some secondary schools in Ebonyi State.
The Examination body had placed de-recognition order on about 345 public and private secondary schools in the Southeast State for alleged examination malpractices during the Senior School Certificate Examination held in 2022.
The WAEC Board late last year, slammed N500,000 fine on each of the affected schools for alleged exam malpractices and another N250,000 for supervision of external exams, amounting to N750,000.
State Commissioner for Education, Dr Sunday Nwangele, disclosed this to newsmen in Abakaliki.
He explained that the lifting order followed the payment of a N50 million fine and approval of a request by the State Government for the council to waive a balance of N48m levied on government-owned secondary schools for their involvement in the malpractice.
Nwangele explained that the N500,000.00 fine placed on each of the 147 private and mission secondary schools over the allegation had been reduced to N250,000.00, which would amount to N36.7 million when paid.
He said: “They were able to convene 2nd examination committee meeting to consider the memo from the State Ministry of Education.
“After considering the memo, WAEC waived the 48 million balance.
“They also considered the issue of de-recognisation and said they will not de-recognise Ebonyi schools again. And it will end this year, no more for two years.”