WAEC fees: Gombe pupils bemoan government’s failure

The ambition of thousands of secondary pupils in Gombe State to further their education has been endangered by the state government’s failure to pay their 2014 West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) examination fees.

This development is coming on the heels of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo’s declarations that education is his administration’s priority.

A candidate at the Government Day (Pilot) Secondary School, Gombe, Ahmed Ishaq Usman, said it is disappointing that the results of public secondary schools candidates who sat for this year’s West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE) were not released together with their counterparts in private schools .

He said: “Government is not being fair to us and we wonder maybe its because many of their children are studying outside the country.

“We are appealing to government to correct this injustice because it is we from poor families whose results are being withheld.”

Another candidate, Ibrahim Nasir Jalo, a resident of Jekadafari quarters, who wrote his examination at Government Day Secondary School, Gandu in Gombe, described the situation as surprising. According to him, government’s inability to pay their examination fees amounted to tampering with their future.

“We were puzzled when on the day they said results were released, we all rushed to the café. Our mates who wrote their examination in private schools have got their results, but we did not get ours.

“We asked why and we were told that it is because government did not pay for us. This does not amount to justice,” he explained.

Jalo appealed to the government to look into the situation and help those of who want to further their education.

The state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Aishatu M.B. Ahmed, when contacted for comment, said she was in Abuja for a meeting and refused to speak on the issue.

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