‘My child cannot score zero’ – Parents Demand Probe of Ekiti Education Ministry over Mass Failure in Common Entrance

Parents of pupils who wrote the last common entrance examination into secondary schools in Ekiti State have called on Governor Biodun Oyebanji to probe the state Ministry of Education for allegedly bungling the conduct of the exercise.

The angry parents specifically called on Oyebanji to set up a Panel of Inquiry to investigate what they called “the questionable mass failure in the examination” and also demanded an audit and re-marking of the pupils’ answer scripts.

The mass failure in the exam written on July 1 and July 3 and the long delay in releasing the results is already causing tension in public and private primary schools, with parents lamenting the alleged shoddy handling of the exercise.

The issue formed the major topic of discussion in public and private schools in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, and nearby towns visited by our correspondent on Wednesday where the parents are spoiling for a showdown with the ministry on the alleged exam fiasco.

Some of the irate parents threatened to stage a public protest to the Ministry of Education as soon as possible if no solution is found to the issue as the future of their wards is at stake.

The release of the results on Tuesday, September 17, the day public and private schools resumed, left the parents and their wards scandalized, wondering why the ministry failed to release the results before the resumption day.

Common entrance candidates who chose public schools were left stranded by the fact that they did not know what they scored before the official resumption date with many of them still at home with their fate hanging in the balance.

Our correspondent also gathered that the common entrance examination certificates were withdrawn following a spelling error on the ones to be given to those who had distinction grades following the misspelling of the word “DISTINCTION” on the certificates.

It was learnt that the error also led to the withholding of the certificates of other pupils who did not obtain the Distinction grade and the date of the release of the certificates is still unknown.

A concerned parent, Mr Sanya Ibuoye, slammed the state Ministry of Education for alleged tardiness and playing the lottery with the future of the innocent pupils, calling for a prompt investigation of the “unacceptable scandal” by the officials of the ministry.

Another parent, Mrs Iyanuoluwa Ayegbusi, called on Governor Oyebanji to constitute a panel to dig deep into the alleged shoddy handling of the common entrance exam and demanded an audit of all the answer scripts.

Mrs Ayegbusi also demanded the remarking of the scripts by independent and competent officials. She demanded that all officials found culpable must be punished in accordance with the extant rules and regulations.

She said the alleged incompetence of the officials of the ministry could have negative effects on the efforts of the Governor to sustain Ekiti’s prominence in education.

“At first, we were scandalized that the results which were supposed to have been released before now for the pupils to know their placements were released on the day of resumption putting those who chose public schools in a state of confusion.

“As if that was not enough, the mass failure of the exam is unacceptable. In my child’s school, they usually ask the pupils to tick the answers they chose on their question papers which will be examined during revision making each pupil know what he scored in the five subjects.

“My child cannot score zero in a subject, I reject the purported result released by the ministry. We the parents are calling on Governor Oyebanji to set up a Panel of Inquiry to look into the mishandling of this exam, we also demand the audit of the answer scripts and their remarking by independent and competent examiners because many parents here are complaining of this mass failure.”

Another parent who craved anonymity lambasted the Ekiti education ministry for serial gaffes and professional misconduct noting that the common entrance certificate of his daughter who is now in JSS 3 is yet to be released.

In her reaction, the Commissioner for Education, DrOlabimpe Aderiye promised to look into the complaints of the parents to address them as soon as possible and to give full feedback on the controversy.

Dr Aderiye advised parents whose wards did not meet the cut-off point to officially write to her ministry to provide spaces in available schools to such embattled pupils.

She said: “The issue is about the capacity of candidates’ school of choice and the respective cut-off marks.

“Placement of pupils from public schools is given preference because of their limited opportunities. There are, however, spaces in some schools like the newly established Model College, Ado Road, Ikere.

“Parents whose children passed but did not meet the cut-off of their school of choice should write to the Ministry of Education. They shall be given a list of schools that have available spaces. I will investigate further and feed you back.”