Why WAEC Prevented Kaduna Students From Taking Examination

701 students in Kaduna State have been denied writing the ongoing 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination WAEC, after paying N12.61 million fees.

Reports say students from nine secondary schools in the state- five public and four private schools, were stopped from writing the exams because the uploading of their Continuous Assessment into the WAEC portal failed and the portal was shut by the examination body at the end of the deadline.

Though WAEC drew the attention of some of the affected schools to the failed uploading on April 1, 2022, giving them time to rectify the anomaly, all entreaties to the WAEC Zonal Coordinator for North West, Audu Paiku to reopen the portal for them to upload the CASS was rejected.

The affected schools include Government Secondary School, Kuse (all 290 final year students), Government Secondary School Independence Way, Kaduna (all 150 final year students), Government Secondary School, Kagarko (110 students), Government Senior Secondary School, Iddah (100 students).

According to Vanguard, others are Al-Bahmeen Academy, Kaduna (all 8 final year students), Kalhyatu AbdulRahman Bin Auf Academy, Jere (15 students), Great Panaf Schools, Kaduna (13 out of 62 students), ECWA Secondary School, Kubacha (10 students) and Government Secondary School, Mato (5 students).

When journalists sought to speak with the North West WAEC Zonal Coordinator, Audu Paiku on the issue, he referred reporters to the Kaduna State Ministry of Education for necessary information.

However, the Kaduna State Ministry of Education had in a letter to the WAEC National Office through the WAEC Zonal office in Kaduna, on April 12, 2022, through the Overseer of the Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority, Aliyu Idris, requested WAEC to reopen its portal to allow the 701 students to upload their CASS, but the examination body refused.

Government Girls Secondary School Independence Way, Kaduna, Great Panaf Schools, Kaduna, and Al-Bahmeen Academy, Kaduna, while confirming the incident, said they did everything possible to enable their students join their colleagues in writing their final exams but the WAEC Zonal Coordinator did not yield.