COVID-19: WAEC, NECO candidates to know fate after lockdown — Minister

Candidates sitting for this year’s West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations would know when they would be writing the papers after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Mr Emeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, said this at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 daily press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that WAEC and NECO examinations had been postponed indefinitely over COVID-19 but added that the ministry would soon announce the time for the examination when the lockdown was over.

Nwajiuba said that the ministry was working on how school would be reopened after the lockdown, adding that nobody could reopen school except it was coordinated by the Ministry of Education.

He said that student had been advised to learn via online platforms, stating that the ministry was working with Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and the State Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to ease the process.

According to him, 15 states including Lagos and Anambra have already commenced learning through radio in accordance with approved standard, while also working with NTA and Radio Nigeria to provide educational contents.

The minister said that the biggest challenge were children with no access to the Internet, adding that the ministry was working to provide learning for those categories through terrestrial platforms.

He said some tertiary institutions had commenced online learning, adding that the public institution must leverage on such to engage the students, noting that support from stakeholders to achieve such had been tremendous.

“We are working with any stakeholders that can support our plans by providing platform for our students to learn,” he said.

He allayed fear over the closure of the National Open University (NOUN), adding that they would soon resume after the lockdown.