By Laleye Dipo
Following the deteriorating security situation in the country occasioned by the #EndSARS protests, the National Examination Council (NECO) has suspended the conduct of the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
THISDAY learnt that NECO had already directed its examiners and invigilators to return to their various offices and await further instructions.
The decision to stop the conduct of the examination also followed the declaration of 24-hour curfew by some state governors where violence had trailed the protests.
The examination body had conducted the Economics paper test on Tuesday while the Physics practical took place on Wednesday without some candidates in some states writing the tests because of the protest and curfew.
A circular issued by the Director of Examination Administration at NECO to all its field officers, confirmed the suspension of the examination.
The memo is titled: “Putting on Hold some papers of the Ongoing SSCE.”
In the circular, NECO said: “The Management and Governing Board of the National Examinations Council (NECO) is compelled by circumstances occasioned by the EndSARS protests which led to the imposition of curfews in some states thereby making it difficult for the council to move sensitive materials across the country, to put on hold papers for Thursday, 22; Friday 23 and Saturday, 24, October.
“The papers will be written between November 17 and 19, after computer practical paper on the 16 October. “Examinations will continue on October 27.
“All officers are hereby directed to return to base and await further directives on October 25.
“State ministries of education, schools, parents, supervisors, monitoring officers and other stakeholders should be adequately sensitised.”
A senior official of NECO had also told THISDAY that it was difficult for the body to continue to conduct the examinations in the present circumstance.
NECO had earlier announced that it had rescheduled one of its SSCE papers, the Computer Studies practical paper 1 earlier scheduled to take place on October 19.
