Taraba State government has completed the payment of the 2025 National Examination Council (NECO), West African Examination Council (WAEC), Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) for students in public schools within the state, worth over N4 billion.
The payment is a continuation of the free and compulsory education policy introduced by Governor Agbu Kefas since his assumption of office in 2023.
The commissioner for Education, Dr Augustina Yahaha, disclosed this on Thursday to LEADERSHIP Friday.
He spoke about the ministry’s activities and the governor’s efforts to make education free and compulsory for the children in the state.
The commissioner said payment of the four different examination bodies, worth at least 4 billion naira, has delayed the full supply of desks and other relevant learning materials to students across the state’s public schools.
The commissioner stated this in response to recent publications that the students from the state were sitting on the floor to write examinations.
“With free education, thousands of children return to our public schools in Taraba state. The number of desks and other learning materials was no longer enough. That was why last year, the governor ordered the construction of more desks in the schools, which we provided for more than 12,000 students in 2024.
“This year, 2025, we still wrote to him about shortages of seating materials. Having gone round the schools, the governor again approved another 12,000 desks for the children. We also have other challenges in the education sector, such as final year examinations. They were also knocking at our doors. We have to prioritise one thing first before the other.
“Now that we are done 100% with all the final year examinations, we are going to take the provision of seating materials seriously. In the next few weeks, the students will have a good number of seating materials across all the public schools in the state. The commissioner stated.
Augustina further revealed that the National Council of Education has abolished the primary school certificate since 2023. She urges parents in the state who are clamouring for the primary school leaving certificate to desist from making cases about the certificate, stating that the certificate is no longer obtainable across the country.
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