BECE 2021: Bauchi records 15,000 cases of malpractices

Aliyu Tilde, the commissioner for education in Bauchi, says the state recorded 15,000 cases of malpractice in the Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE) conducted in August 2021.

According to NAN, the commissioner spoke at a news conference in Bauchi on Wednesday.

He said the exams were conducted at a time when Governor Bala Mohammed dissolved his cabinet, and as such, he was not in office to monitor how it was conducted.

Tilde said that 52,000 students sat for the examination and that the 15,000 cases of malpractice were from essay writing alone.

“We are admitting virtually every child into SS1 because the total number that sat for the examination was just about 52,000 and 45,000 are from government-owned schools,” he said.

“The admission is based largely on the essay paper because it is the only true and most genuine paper that you can get out of the examination.

“The examination took place when the cabinet was dissolved and there were a lot of malpractices, especially in the multiple choice questions. Invigilators were dictating answers to the candidates; I must confess.

“I have videos to that effect. You pick a whole school and you’d find out that all the candidates wrote the same sentences; you’d know that someone was dictating to them or wrote it for them.”

Tilde, who was recently reappointed to office, said he would not conduct a fresh BECE examination but would hold the officials accountable for the malpractice.

He also said that every child that wrote the examination would be admitted into the nearest day secondary school no matter how good the result was, while those that would be admitted into the state’s merit boarding schools would write a placement examination.

Tilda added that apart from the student’s performance, the ministry would consider their willingness and that of their parents to be in boarding schools.

“This will prevent low turnout of students into the boarding schools after being given admission as was the case in the past,” he said.

“They will write an examination and pass it before they are admitted. We will demand minimum merit but the child must also be willing to go to boarding before we will consider him.”

The commissioner advised students willing to be admitted into the boarding schools in the state to go to any of the 23 examination centres “between 9a.m to 4p.m to write the placement examination from Monday Nov.8 to Sunday Nov. 15.”

He said this would make them eligible for admission into JSS1, JSS2, SS1 and SS2 of the state’s boarding schools.