No fewer than 50,000 students in government and private schools in Niger State are participating in the ongoing Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE).
The state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Hannatu Salihu, made the disclosure while monitoring the conduct of the examination in Minna on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that BECE qualifies students for admission into senior secondary school.
It is written in the third term of the last year of the three-year junior secondary education.
Salihu noted that the examination was to evaluate students after nine years of basic education.
Basic education begins from Primary One and end in JS3.
The commissioner said that the monitoring was to ensure compliance with the rules, by schools.
“In our monitoring, we have seen compliance by some schools, and those not complying, we will ensure they do so.
“This is the first BECE in which we are having over 50,000 students across the state participating, in a long time. It is mandated that private schools key into the examination,” she said.
She praised schools for ensuring that more students participated in the examination.
The official said that the state government would, from the next academic session, make the examination mandatory for students in both government and private schools.
NAN reports that among the schools visited by the commissioner are Bosso Secondary School, Mawo School, Attaawuun Educational Services and Government Girls Secondary School, Minna. (NAN)
