Bauchi State recorded 15,000 cases of examination malpractices in the Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE) conducted in August 2021.

BECE is the examination that qualifies students for admission into senior secondary schools after three years of junior secondary education.

The Commissioner for Education, Aliyu Tilde, told a news conference in Bauchi on Wednesday that the examination was conducted at a time when Governor Bala Mohammed had dissolved his cabinet.

He explained that he was not in office at the time and could not monitor how the examination was conducted.

Tilde also 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.

“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,” the commissioner said.

Tilde, who said though he had been reappointed, he could not order for a fresh BECE examination to be conducted.

He promised to hold the officials responsible for the malpractices accountable for the act as their action was inimical to the standard of education in the state.

He explained further that every child that wrote the examination would be admitted into a nearest day secondary school, no matter how good his result.

The commissioner said also that students that would be admitted into the state’s merit boarding schools would have to write a placement examination where they would be tested and examined academically.

He added that apart from considering the excellent performance of the students, the ministry would also consider the willingness of the students and their parents to allow their wards to attend boarding schools.

This, he said, would prevent low turn-up of students in the boarding schools after being given admission as it was the case in the past.