Benue Govt Warns Against Illegal  Collection Of School Levies

…., Places Ban On Issuance Of Primary School Certificate

From Attah Ede, Makurdi 

Benue State Government has declared zero tolerance for illegal charges and levies in both public and private schools in the State, warning Principals and all Administrators to desist from collecting any unauthorised fees from learners.

The Executive Secretary, Benue Education Quality Assurance and Examination Board(BEQAEB),Terna Francis gave this warning during the board ‘s maiden meeting with principals of public and private schools held in Makurdi, the State capital.

He further said that government has made e-Dossier compulsory for all learners, stating that the platform was introduced to serve as an automated performance tracker and a credible record of learner progress from Basic 1 to Basic 9 and from SS 1 to SS 3.

According to him, the system will also help the board to rank schools by performance and monitor the migration of students at the point of registering for external examinations and eliminate excuses and bring transparency and speed to school operations and enhance early release of exams results.

He intimated that the  Board has fully automated all payments for its examinations to be done online or through the banking system to cutdown corruption and other illegalities in the system.

According to him, with this new development, no staff of the Board is permitted to collect payment, issue receipts, or act as an agent for any school or candidate, adding that henceforth, no cash transactions or issuance of manual receipts will be tolerated under any circumstance.

He directed principals and school administrators to exclusively channel all complaints and enquiries to office  through official communication channel, stressing that unauthorized collection or handling of funds by staff will attract immediate disciplinary action.

 The executive secretary noted that Governor Hyacinth Alia In his characteristic boldness and foresight, took decisive action, restructured the entire examination system by merging the defunct Examinations Board with the Bureau for Education Quality Assurance.

 “The new BEQAEB is therefore not a cosmetic change; it is a total rebirth aimed at efficiency, integrity, and accountability.

“Our examination system lost credibility. The defunct Benue State Examinations Board, as you well know, became synonymous with corruption, inefficiency, and lost confidence. We witnessed delays in the release of results, years of unissued certificates, irregularities in exam conduct, and a deep erosion of public trust.

“These failures embarrassed our education system and robbed our students of the dignity of genuine assessment. But let me be clear today — those dark days are over”, Terna assured.

The executive secretary announced that government has approved ₦18,000 plus ₦250 transaction fee, totaling ₦18,250 as registration fee for BECE and MOCK examinations in the State.

He however said Governor Alia in his compassion for Benue students and parents, approved a palliative of ₦8,000 per student, leaving them to pay only ₦10,250, saying that the palliative applies only to those who register within the stipulated early registration period as captured in the official timetable.

“Once the deadline elapses, the system will automatically revert to the full ₦18,250 for late registration.

This policy is not negotiable”, he said.

He warned that henceforth, no student shall be cleared to sit for any external examination without participating in the Mock SSCE, maintaining that gone are the days when Principals deliberately refuse to register candidates for MOCK with the intention of bribing their way to be cleared through the back door.

Speaking on the implementation of the new national curriculum recently introduced by the Federal Government, Terna said BECE remain the first school leaving certificate, as it is now illegal for anyone to issue certificates after Primary Six.

” The law will be fully and fearlessly implemented. Our enforcement unit has been empowered to ensure total compliance all the  policies and violators will face sanctions without exception”, he said.