Tina Amanda
Officers of the Borokiri Police Division promptly intervened in a chaotic situation that would have resulted in a total breakdown of law and order at the Community Secondary School, UPE bus stop, Borokiri, Port Harcourt, over the exclusion of some students from the ongoing WASSCE examination.
Some parents of the affected students had, on Wednesday, 17 May 2023, stormed the school premise demanding the ongoing WASSCE examination be halted over the exclusion of their children who are school students.
In an interview with a parent, he lamented that he came to register his children for the WASSCE examination and did not know why his children’s names were not included.
“My children paid for the WAEC fee because I came to pay for them. The Principal can testify to that, so I do not know why he removed their names as students and put external candidates.
“The students are outside, and we, the parents, are unhappy; the total number of students excluded is sixty-two.
Another parent, Leya Jeremiah, said his son called him on Tuesday, 16 May 2023, informing him that the Principal stopped him from writing the examination.
“We, as parents, are pleading that you people should come and help us; the Principal excluded about sixty-two students of the School from the list and brought in external Candidates to write.
“He told us that the School board removed the students’ names from the WAEC list.
Sunny Brown, one of the parents of the students, also lamented that his son informed him the same Tuesday, 16 May, that he was not allowed to write the examination by the Principal.
“The Principal said the Commissioner gave him a slot of at least four hundred and eighty (480) students to register, but he went with four hundred and twenty 420 names to register. Commissioner only registered three hundred and fifty (350) and removed sixty-one (61) names of persons.
“I asked him why the sixty-one persons were not the external candidates, why it would be students who started from JSS1 in the School after collecting thirty-eight thousand naira.
“We are demanding that they send our children’s names back to the WAEC list; if not, we, the parents, will not allow them to continue to write these exams”.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Ministry of Education has suspended the Principal of Community Secondary School, Borokiri, Port Harcourt, over alleged West African Senior Secondary School (WASSCE) racketeering.
Commissioner for Education, Professor Chinedu Mmom, disclosed this on Wednesday, 17 May 2023 to Journalists shortly after parents of students of the School who were excluded from writing the exams visited his office.
Professor Mmom said he has also deployed another Principal to resume in the School immediately.
According to the Commissioner, the Principal agreed in the presence of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Borokiri Police Division that he short-changed some students of the School for external candidates he collected money from.
Professor Mmom further said he had urged the DPO to detain the Principal for investigation.
