BY LEVI JOHNSON
The Federal Government has stated that if the COVID-19 persist and the West African Examination Council, WAEC, does not shift ground in its examination date, Nigerian students may replace SS3 examination with November General Certificate Examinations, GCE.
Emeka Nwajiuba, the Minister of State for Education on Thursday made this remark during the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said sitting for the GCE may become the only option for Nigerian students if the country cannot convince WAEC to shift its examinations for any reason at all.
According to him, 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.
He explained that the ministry will be meeting with relevant stakeholders on July 30 to assess preparations for the safe reopening of schools.
His words: “WAEC unfortunately, is unable to wholesomely move the exams but we have also worked out a negotiated timeline 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.
“Nigeria is not moving away from it, the option would have been to go to November to take the GCE external exams. Nigeria is carefully studying that if in the event everything fails, we may go to that way.”
