One hundred and forty-seven private and mission schools in Ebonyi State have been ordered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to pay N36.7million fine following the de-recognition of the schools over alleged examination malpractices.
Briefing journalists in Abakaliki, the commissioner for education, Dr. Sunday Nwangele, said following the intervention of the state government on the de-recognition, the council slashed the initial fine of N500,000 to N250,000 per school.
“Following our memo and the appeal for WAEC to consider waving the fine imposed on the 147 private schools, WAEC considered our appeal and cancelled the de-recognition of the private schools and reduced the penalty by 50% . So instead of paying N500,000, they will now pay N250,000 each,” he said.
It would be recalled that some schools in the state were de-recognised last year by the examination body for alleged exam malpractices.
The schools were charged N500,000 each as fine by the body for the offence.
Dr. Nwangele however noted that the state government also paid the sum of N50million for public schools involved in the practice leaving a balance of N48million out of the N98million fine slammed on the public schools by the WAEC.
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