WASSCE: Vows To Participate In 2020 WAEC Examination, Shun FG's order

Akinade Alamu, Chairman, Oyo State Post-Primary Schools Teaching Service Commission (TE­SCOM), has declared that considering measures al­ready put in place by the state government led by Governor Seyi Makinde, nothing will stop Oyo from partaking in the 2020 West African Senior School Examination (WAS­SCE).

This is coming on the side­line of recent announcement and counter-declaration by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, that all sec­ondary schools under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, would not par­take in this year’s WASSCE school-based examinations due to the ravaging Corona­virus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Speaking on a local ra­dio station, ‘Fresh FM’ pro­gramme tagged: ‘COVID-19 Situation Room’, the Oyo TE­SCOM chairman condemned the poor funding and han­dling of the education sector by the Federal Government and wondered why the gov­ernment was opening and locking down schools indefi­nitely while the aviation and other business sectors are reopening.

He said: “This govern­ment at Federal level is not helping things in the educa­tion sector. The meagre bud­getary allocation for educa­tion shows clearly that they are less concerned. They have re-opened airline oper­ation. Do they want to tell us that people would not sit together inside an aeroplane or what?

“This epidemic has come to stay with us and we should do everything possible to manage it until we get cur­able drugs for the virus. We should not lock down an im­portant sector like education. If we say we are not writing WASSCE this year, how are we sure that the pandemic would have gone by next year. Is the government saying we are not going to write it next year if Coronavirus persists, God forbid?

“The most important thing is to make adequate provisions for the safety of our students, which we have done and we would continue to do so as events unfold.

“Before we resume in Oyo State, all the stakeholders in the education sector in the state that include TESCOM, SUBEB, PTA and others held meetings with the state COVID-19 management team to fashion ways forward for school resumption,” he add­ed.