COVID-19: FG mulls alternatives on WAEC, schools re-opening

The Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja said that final year secondary school students may have to sit for the General Certificate Examinations (GCE) in November if there is no shift in the timetable of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

The Minister of State Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, while answering questions at the 52nd joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.

This is as he said that the government would meet with stakeholders again on July 30, next week Thursday to review the guidelines, provisions and preparation for safe reopening of schools.

According to him, sitting for the GCE may become the only option for Nigerian students if the country cannot convince WAEC to shift its examinations as requested for by the Federal Government.

“Should Nigeria be able to meet up with the WAEC timetable, there was already a negotiated timeline to move local language subjects such as Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa behind to allow all participating countries the needed time to write the general subjects at the same time.

“WAEC unfortunately, is unable to wholesomely move the exams but we have also worked out a negotiated time line with WAEC on what we call peculiar Nigerian subjects which in the language of WAEC are subjects that are only held in Nigeria such as Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba.

“The Ghanaians will take examinations peculiar to them. But they are all in the first part of the time table so we will work out a domestication module that will take our peculiar subjects behind after we have done generals,” Nwajiuba said.

When asked to comment on the Oyo State Government cancelling third term, the minister said that the education is on concurrent list and that while the states are expected to work together on common front, especially on the COVID-19 crisis, the states were at liberty to evolve some measures on their own.