Schools Raise WAEC, NECO Fees, Denying Poor Students Chances

Pelumi Abraham looked melancholy as she stood beside her mistress giving her attachments while the mistress braid a client’s hair.

She appeared exhausted and disoriented and didn’t join the saloon’s conversation.

She seemed exhausted and disoriented, said nothing, and made no contribution to the saloon’s ongoing conversation.

When asked whether she was okay, she responded in the positive, but her mistress interrupted her, adding, “she is furious because she was not given the chance to finish her senior secondary school since her parents were not able to register her for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).”

So When the clients asked about the cost of registration, Pelumi told them that it was N40,000.

Pelumi also said that her parents complained that there was no funds to enroll her for the West african senior school certificate (WAEC), but the school demanded that we enroll for both NECO and WAEC at the same time.”So they advised me to wait till they can gather much funds, and then they’ll register me with the next batch,”

“I was obliged to go and practice hairdressing, and my biggest regret is that my friends will be ahead of me, and I’m not sure whether my parents will be able to afford the funds they use and enroll me next year since my younger sister would also be required to write senior secondary school leaving examination,” she said.

Pelumi isn’t the first one who is unable to conclude her education owing to her parents’ inability to afford examination costs. Many pupils fall into this group, and some parents have gone into indebtedness solely so their children may take the WAEC”,Said by one the client.

Furthermore, WAEC and NECO enrollment should not be a problem if academic institutions had adhered to the initial rates of N13,950, which WAEC has been demanding for each student’s registration since 2017. Owing to the country’s current inflation, the examination authority just recently hiked the price to N18,000.

Mr Patrick Areghan, The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, has currently said that, recently when visiting its marking center that there had been a minor rise in WAEC fees due to the country’s spiraling inflation.

In additioner, Mr Patrick Areghan said that”There as been needs to be that little increase to allowed provide better services.” Supervisors are now pleased since we may raise their marking costs due to this little rise. “The money which was really used to pay auditors so that we could please them and have them perform a great job,”.

Similarly, as according SIX9JA news blougger (NB), secondary schools demand between N40,000 and N100,000 to register a particular candidate for WAEC, while some demand the same sum or more for both WAEC and NECO.

According to Maryam Julius who said that, a parent, claimed she spent N40,000 to enrol her daughter for WAEC at a public institution.

“It took me a long time to raise that cash since it is separate from the school tuition and other taxes,” she said. In fact, I was one of the last parents to pay since I was warned that there would be a late registration charge.”

A candidate identified as Emmanuel said that he paid N100,000 to enrol for WAEC at a private institution.

“My parents insisted on doing my test at a private school because they believed I would perform better there, and the school insisted on it, on top of the school expenses.”

Kenneth Azuh spent N240,000 to enrol his two children at a private school in Gwarimpa, Abuja, for both the exams and JAMB.

“I was shocked to see lately in the media that WAEC registration fees had been raised from N13,950 to N18,000.” “I realized that the actual sum has been cheap and inexpensive, which suggests that schools are ripping us off,” he said.

Kenneth accuses the authorities of failing to execute their jobs correctly, claiming that “if we are a serious nation, they should have been able to put safeguards in place to guarantee that schools charge consistent rates.” Even if they were to add administrative fees, they should not exceed N10,000.”

According to a source connected to the WAEC who does not want her name publicized, a father complained in 2019 that the school his children attended in Lagos cost N200,000 to register them for just WAEC.

She said that in 2021, a relative of hers tried to enroll in a school and was informed that registration had ended and that she would have to pay N40,000 as a late entrance fee in addition to N100,000 for registration.

“This was happening at a time when WAEC had yet to begin registration.” Although we were still preparing, other schools had completed registration and were collecting late entrance fees,” she said.

“They are ripping off parents, and as a result, many pupils were unable to register due to the increased charge, and the Ministry of Education is doing nothing about it,” she bemoaned.

In response, Yussuff Oriyomi, the chairman of a private school in Abuja, said they charge N70,000 for both WAEC and NECO and have no plans to raise it, even with the little rise from WAEC.

He said that the N70,000 was for tests and other administrative costs, and that they were really subsidizing since other institutions charged N100,000 or more.

“For the supervisors, we send school buses to pick them up and drop them off.” If the school bus is not available, we will have to arrange a Bolt taxi to fetch them up. And there are times when we don’t go to pick them up, they arrive late, and the pupils grow concerned. “When they arrive, we have to feed them as well,” he said.

He said that “the entire process of coming to the WAEC office to regularize your registration, uploading the passport images of students, and a whole bunch of back and forth that is required, are part of the administrative fees.”

“We charge N70,000, while others demand N100,000 for both tests.” So, if NECO is N18,000 and WAEC is N18,000, isn’t that already N36,000; and you’re paying N70,000? The balance is N34,000, and it is from this that we upload data and purchase internet. “They change the program that we use almost every year, and we purchase the software,” he said.

Oriyomi stated that the WAEC office is in Gwagwalada and that the exam officer may have to visit the office up to ten times before completing the registration, adding that their processes were extremely slow. “Sometimes I’m afraid we’re going to spend more than we’ve gotten from them.”

In response, Areghan, the HNO of WAEC, said that the council only charges N18, 000 for its exams, whether in a public or private school.

“We have no say in the matter.” WAEC receives no more than N18,000 in fees.

We have no information on how they provide logistics to supervisors. We pay supervisors to perform their jobs.”

“Their effort to rationalize their unlawful accusations is ridiculous.” Online registration is available. You may register anywhere once you get your registration documents. I’m not sure what they mean when they say “going to WAEC to register is time consuming,” he said.

He said that it is the responsibility of the different Ministries of Education to regulate the excesses of schools in this regard, and that parents should file complaints with the Ministries of Education in their respective states, since schools are under their jurisdiction rather than WAEC.

When contacted, Bem Ben Goong, Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, said that students enrolling for WAEC pay precisely what WAEC charges, potentially with a minor administrative cost attached, which is reasonable.

He, on the other hand, denied assertions that private schools charge greater fees even for their own children.

“No, that’s not true,” he said. Please provide proof of anybody who has paid that amount; we are not ghosts. We will tackle that school if you provide us with reliable proof.