The Director-General of Benue State Education Quality Assurance Agency (BEQA), Dr. Terna Francis, says the agency has eliminated ‘miracle’ centres from secondary schools across the state.
Francis also said other forms of examination malpractices existing in schools which predated the present administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia, had equally been eliminated.
He said the newly established agency under his leadership met an educational system characterised by massive rots from the primary level to the secondary level and began to correct the abnormalities.
He stated that he personally screened those now supervising the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and had visited at least 900 schools across the state since assumption of office about four months ago on inspection.
The Director General mentioned the various forms of abnormalities to include illegal fees collected from students by school management, extortion of parents/students to allow for malpractices (miracle centres) during external exams, among others.
Francis explained that the situation, according to the records he met on the ground, degenerated to the extent that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in 2022 sanctioned 438 schools for malpractices out of 683 which registered for the examinations that year.
“But we have taken away that rot. Schools collecting monies for malpractices, and the existence of miracle centres have been eliminated,” the DG added.
