Ekiti plans to celebrate best result in NECO

The government of Ekiti says its emergence as the best performing state in the 2016 National Examination Council (NECO) result would be celebrated “in grand style’.

Addressing a news conference in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti, on Saturday, Jide Egunjobi, commissioner for education, said the feat resulted from some radical measures taken by the government.

He said cancellation of free WAEC and NECO registration fees for students, though painful, helped in changing the “face of education” in the state.

Egunjobi added that the introduction of moderate tuition fees in schools for students also played important roll.

He recalled that the emergency education summit convened by the current administration in the state revealed that payment of examination fees by past administrations was part of the indulgences responsible for past failures.

“Those who were paying for free registration in public exams without first inculcating discipline and hard work in the students did more harm than good for them,” he said.

“An unserious student whose parents never suffered to pay either school fees or WAEC and NECO money may not see reason in being serious and dedicated to his studies

“We found that it was the belief of such students that neither they nor their parents will lose anything after all, if they failed those exams since it was the government that would eventually bear the brunt.

“We backed all these up by fortifying the schools with the right type of books, instructional materials and accorded priority attention to teachers’ welfare.

“We also cancelled manual work such as grass cutting during school hours while our inspectorate division was strengthened to fish out lazy and complacent tutors.”

With over 96.31 per cent success, Charles Uwake, registrar and chief executive officer of NECO, declared Ekiti as the best performing state.

Edo came second, while Abia and Kogi have joint third position.