By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
National Examinations Council (NECO) has released time table for the 2020 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) scheduled to commence Monday, October 5 through Wednesday November 18, 2020.
The Registrar/Chief Executive, Professor Godswill Obioma, disclosed this to newsmen at the NECO headquarters in Minna, Niger State yesterday.
He, however, said the examinations would be conducted without bias to global education standards.
Obioma, who gave detail of the examinations to be conducted by NECO between August and November this year said, “In their order, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will start on Monday 24th August and end on Monday 7th September 2020 and further compressed it to terminate on the 4th of September, 2020”.
The registrar said a total of 343, 595 candidates for the three examinations; SSCE has 169,144 candidates, BECE has 104, 341 candidates and NCEE has 80,110 candidates, adding however that registration is still open for candidates who are interested.
NECO took into cognizance other examination bodies to avoid conflicts, the registrar further explained, adding that its National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for JSS 1 students into Federal Unity Colleges is slated for 17th of October, 2020.
Obioma explained that manual on the guidelines for the conduct of the 2020 NECO examination in the COVID -19 pandemic was unveiled to ensure a hitch-free examination and the Council was also coming up with new ideas that would make NECO stand out ahead of others.
The guidelines, he said, covers; roles, responsibilities and expectations of various stakeholders that included; school proprietors, principals, managers, parents/guardians, candidates sitting for the examinations, supervisors, invigilators, examination monitors and security officials that covered critical issues and COVID-19 protocols.
To maintain zero tolerance for examination malpractices, Obioma told journalists that NECO was considering installing CCTV cameras in all its examination centers in the future and therefore urged candidates to study hard to resist the temptations to cheat.
Some measures were being put in place to ensure credibility and standards during and after the examinations, he said.
According to him, the measures included; daily distribution of sensitive materials, biometric capturing of candidates and customized answer booklets as well as deployment of security to the centres.
Obioma said that examination officials and monitor are now mandatorily required to sign an Oath of Allegiance preparatory for their respective roles and responsibilities during each of the examinations.
Part of new innovations for improved operations in NECO, according to Obioma is deliberate initiatives of using social media, hence, the Council’s creation of a social media accounts for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all @officialNecoNG. While reiterating the commitments of his administration in not compromising standards, Obioma said he has developed a strategic Action Plan for his 11-point agenda and applauded the Federal Ministry of Education for providing enabling environment for the Council’s operations.