Afe Babalola chides WAEC, NECO for disrupting academic calendar, calls for release of results
Afe Babalola
Legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has berated the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) for disrupting the academic calendar and called for the immediate release of results of their last examinations.
The founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), in a statement he personally signed, said it was unfortunate that the examination bodies do not consider the future of university-bound students in fixing examination dates and release of results.
He noted that “WAEC, which used to conduct yearly examination between April and June, and release results between July and August, conducted this year’s examination between August 16 and October 1.
Despite the lateness in conducting the examination, the senior advocate said the body is yet to publish the result.
“NECO on the other hand, which used to conduct its examination between May and July conducted this year’s examination from July 5 to August 16. The result was not released until October 30, 2021.
“The effect of this delay by both NECO and WAEC is most damaging for both students, parents and universities. The undue delay has dislocated the programmes of universities to the detriment of the university bound students.
“It has also created a lot of problems for universities, teachers, government and proprietors of private institutions, who in any event must pay their teachers to retain their services. Perhaps, the worst damage done by WAEC and NECO is that most of these students, if not all, may lose a whole year or substantial part of a year idling away and suffering in silence.
Loss of a year or less or more by anybody may cause irreparable damage forever,” he lamented.
The legal luminary reminded that WAEC was established in 1952 primarily to conduct senior school certificate examination specifically between the months of March and July to enable university students prepare for admission between September and October yearly.
“The set-up by West African countries was in conformity with international standard.
Granted that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this arrangement in 2020, universities all over the world, including those in Nigeria, made use of virtual learning systems to ensure that the age-long system of the academic calendar was not disrupted.
“With the combination of physical and virtual learning, universities have continued to meet their obligations to students and parents. Therefore, they have been able to complete sessional examinations and admit students yearly.
“Consequently, last year’s session ended in June while this year’s session began in September 2021 in ABUAD and many other universities,” he said.
He however called on the Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Government to address the problem created by the examination bodies for admission seekers, teachers, parents and the country at large.
Babalola also called on WAEC to release the result immediately and take the future of students into consideration in fixing examination dates and release of results, in such a way that their future will not be adversely affected.
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