AT N9,000, the registration fee for the November/December 2013 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates (popularly known as GCE) is steep for many. Yet, that is the cost of registration during the regular period stipulated by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), which ended on July 31. Late registration for the examination, which opened on August 1, and ended on August 20, attracted additional N10,000 penalty, bringing the total cost of registration to N19,000.
The cost is borne by the parents of some candidates who can afford it. Others save towards buying the access PIN with which to complete the registration online. They can only save if they have jobs, which many do not.
Sixteen-year old Damilola Akanni is one of the candidates finding it difficult to pay for the exam he lost his father. Year after year, he has been saving towards writing the examination. But he has not been able to achieve his dream because of the pittance he makes from his ‘pure’ water business in Akure, the Ondo State Capital. The registration fee was N6,850 last year.
“With my Pure Water business, I have been saving some money in order to pay for the form. But with this development, I may need to suspend the plan for now. Since my father’s death, my mother and I have been struggling to care for other children he left behind. Though I dropped out from school few months after he died, my target is to work harder and become great in life. WAEC should change its mind because of people like us,” he said.
Parents are also not finding it easy raising money for the examination. Those with more than one children planning to take the examination, said they could not sponsor all of them at once.
Mrs. Bambo Akinloye, a trader in Akure, said she was planning to get the form for two of her children but was forced to pay for only one.
“It is a difficult task for my own family to eat since my husband lost his job. Sometimes, the children are forced to go to school on empty stomach because we don’t have enough money to care for their needs. Our plan was to get the WAEC form for two of the children. But, with this, there is no way we can cope,” she said.
Mr Anietie Ibah, another parent residing in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, said he changed plans to register his daughter, Sarah, for the examination next year because the price was beyond what he had planned for.
“About N10,000 to register for this exam for my daughter, I don’t have. She would wait a little,” he said.
Operators of computer coaching centres that assist candidates with registration and preparation for the examination said they recorded low patronage this year because of the fee hike.
Checks in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital, showed that a centre called, Must Make It Educational Centre in Mgbuoba area of Port Harcourt has closed down for lack of patronage.
The Success Coaching Centre, a popular centre in Akure, also recorded low patronage this year. When our correspondent visited, the ever-busy centre only had a few candidates.
Its coordinator, Mr Biodun Badmus, said many parents could not afford the new fees which they complained was outrageous.
The challenge of raising funds to register for the examination is not new. Even when the registration fee was less than N9,000, many families could not afford it. As a result, some lawmakers in the states and assemblies have been sponsoring candidates for the examination as part of their constituency projects for years.
Deputy Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly Hon. Rotimi Abiru said he had been give free forms yearly to candidates in his Somolu II constituency in the last six years. He said no fewer than 400 youths have benefited from the gesture so far. He described the gesture as “another way of empowering indigent but brilliant youths who cannot afford the forms.”
The lawmaker representing Eti-Osa II Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, said he had also given free forms to about 300 candidates in the past four years.
“As representatives of the people we owe it a duty to assist them to enable them acquire the necessary education especially when so many of them are from poor homes whose parents can’t afford the cost of purchasing forms,” he said.
Hon. Bimbo Daramola, who represents Ekiti North Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives, also has a similar initiative, which he said is to assist his constituents.
“As a representative of the people, you must be sufficiently aware of their need and accommodate them as much as you can reasonably afford,” he said.
Apart from the cost, which was increased from N7,500 last year, some of those interviewed claimed that the registration duration did not favour candidates as it was shorter this year by two months.
Mr. Obelle O. Obelle, who runs a remedial class in Aba, Abia State, described the short duration as an administrative incompetence of the examination body.
He wondered why WAEC would want candidates to register for the examination within one month instead of the normal three months.
He said cost was not a factor for low registration as people still registered for the exam normally.
He said: “Nov/Dec WASSCE is an exam for people who are already working. The issue of parents not being able to register their children for the exam should be ruled out. It is not SSCE. Any person that wants to write GCE (Nov/Dec WASSCE) must have budgeted for it.
“What people are crying out for is the time for the registration. But one thing people like doing is registering at the 11th hour. People will never show interest or seriousness until the dying minute.
“But how can they (WAEC) say that registration that was supposed to last for three months will now last for one month? WAEC knows what they are doing. At my centre, people are still registering and nobody has ever complained about the current N9,300.”
Badmus also refused to link the poor turn out of students at his centre to the hike in fees.
“The number of students coming to my centre has been low for sometime now because they now prefer to patronise “Miracle Centres” to pass easily rather than concentrating on their studies. I don’t believe the increase in WAEC fees is the cause of low turnout, but because some of the students paid more than what the WAEC demanded for to their illegal centres. Some paid N50,000 to N100,000,” he said.
Tony Andoni registers candidates for the examination on the premises of the University of Calabar. According to him, he has not noticed any appreciable difference in the number of students that registered this year as against previous years.
“The students have just been coming in as usual. I would say they are not as much as last year, but the difference is not so much. The candidates who come to register have however been complaining that the money is so much. The other alternative which is NECO external is about the same price range otherwise I am sure many would have left this one for it. Maybe if they are shifting the closing date it is so that they can make more money,” Andoni said.
Another operator who registers candidates at the gate of the WAEC office in Calabar, simply called Victor, said he charged N10,500. He also said there was no appreciable drop in the number of candidates.
Mr Fidelis Atsu takes extramural classes at the Government Secondary School along Atu in Calabar. He said despite the high cost of the examination he has not seen any decline in the number of candidates he is teaching.
However, the story changed when the late registration window opened, with additional charge of N10, 000, bringing the amount to about N20,000. Andoni said within the late entry period which closed on August 20, he registerd just one candidate.
Mr Olukayo Akinwunmi, the Director of Guarantee Success Academy in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital, said majority of the students who had been attending tutorial classes suddenly stopped because of their inability to meet up with the over 100 per cent penalty attached to late registration.
He said it was not the first time that people were crying out against such acts and nothing significant was done.
Cordelia Ngwu , a computer operator who registers candidates in Nnewi, Anambra State, said the extension did not help many to register.
“I did not register up to five people since the increment. The extension is useless as far as I am concerned because the price is too high. Many students cannot afford it,” she said.
Mr Bolaji Busola, Director of Higher Ground Tutorial College in Lagos believes the late registration fee is in order.
“The fee attached to late registration of students for the examination is not outrageous considering the efforts it would involve incorporating them, given the closeness of the examination.”
It is normal and should be expected. I don’t believe the fee increment is abnormal or condemnable. Those who could not register at the normal charge of N9,500 should expect to pay the additional charge of N10,000, making N19,500.
“Consider those who just found out that they were unable to make their papers in the last WAEC/GCE results just released. Without that extension, it means they would have to wait a whole year before having an opportunity to write the papers again. So, the extension will serve as a hope to them”, he said.
Many people fault WAEC for closing the normal registration window before announcing the results of the May/June 2013 WASSCE.
They said the closure denied many candidates who did not make the requisite number of credits in the examination an opportunity to register for the November/December version because they could not afford the late registration fees.
Chibuzor Nwogu, who runs a coaching centre in the Sabo Tasha area of Kaduna, said enrolment was poor this year. He said he usually had close to 100 candidates annually in his centre for extra lessons. But this year, he did not register more than five because of the short registration period.
“Usually, WAEC allows a time frame of at least one week from the day when they release the result for internal exams so that candidates who did not make it will register. But, this year, they increased the fees even before the release of the result for the internal exams and now candidates are required to pay as much as N19,300 to register for the exam.
“You will agree with me that people don’t have that kind of money to spend at this time; and so, it has affected the registration and has also affected us. I can tell you that at the moment, I am running my centre at a loss because we have to keep the place going even though the number of students is not encouraging,” he said.
The limitation in the number of centres where the exam is to be taken may also have reduced interest in it by students. It was gathered that centres in private schools were eliminated from the list this year by the council which approved only government schools. One coaching centre operator, who refused to give his name, said: “You can’t believe that there are only four centres in Kaduna South and they are all government schools. In the past, we have centres in private schools and, in most cases, these centres attract more candidates. But this time around, there are no such centres; so students are reluctant to come and register.”
Responding to claims that WAEC did not give enough time for normal registration, the Head of the Public Affairs Section, Nigerian National office, Mr Yusuf Ari, said candidates were given four months to register. He also said the examination is not more expensive than other public examinations.
He said: “The registration period commenced about five months ago. The last extension of the registration period ended on August 20. When you compare what WAEC charges for its exams with what other examining bodies charge, you will see that what WAEC charges is very reasonable indeed.”
