Zamfara trails behind with least registered candidates

75,000 write Common Entrance Examination

By Joseph Erunke

ABUJA–LIKE 2018, Lagos State maintained its lead as the state with the highest number of registered candidates for the 2019 Common Entrance Examination into the nation’s unity colleges.

Also, Zamfara State, which had the least registered candidates for the examination in 2018, was equally seen trailing behind all the states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

Students writing exam

This came as a total number of 75,635 candidates wrote the 2019 Common Entrance Examination, held simultaneously across the country, Saturday.

The registration data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Education showed that

Lagos State had over 25, 000 registered applications while Zamfara State trailed behind with 59 applications.

Speaking to newsmen after monitoring the exercise in some centers in the FCT, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Arch. Sonny Echono, who represented the Minister of Education,Mallam Adamu Adamu, said the Federal Government had begun the renovation and rehabilitation of 104 unity colleges.

The rehabilitation exercise, he said, included replacement of broken toilets, ceilings, creation of additional classrooms and the renovation of existing ones.

The renovation, which he said was at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari, was aimed at expanding access to education in the country.

But Echonu explained that out of the number that registered and participated in the examination exercise, only about 25, 000 students would be given admission into the colleges.

He said already, the government had begun recruitment of teachers to carter for the new intake next term.

Hear him: “We have a challenge of access to education in this country, as part of our interventions to ensure that we bring more children into the school system and reduce the number of kids who are out-of-school, we are having so many programmes. One of them is to increase the spaces available in our unity colleges.

“You are aware that each time we do this there are other consequential interventions that are needed. You need to have additional classrooms; you need to have additional teachers.

“We are pleased that Mr. President graciously approved that we should begin to rehabilitate many of these unity colleges. Besides the security infrastructure, we are now providing both new classrooms and as well as rehabilitating the dilapidated ones and we are also dealing with the libraries, laboratories and so on.

“We are recruiting additional teachers for the unity schools as we speak. Both the regularisation of PTA teachers and new recruitment are ongoing at the Federal Civil Service Commission as we speak and they will come in early enough for them to be inducted, trained, given some kind of preparation ahead of the opening of the schools next term.”

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According to him, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing have already approved four interventions in some unity schools in Abuja.

He explained that the intervention is to rehabilitate broken toilets, ceilings, and classrooms to complement what the ministry of education is doing.

“We hope that in the next few years, all those schools will be returned to their glory days.”

On his part, the Acting Registrar, National Examination Council, NECO, Abubakar Gana,

who monitored the examination alongside members of NECO governing board and other officials said that adequate provisions were made for the success of the exam.

He said that little or no challenge was recorded across the centers, and additional security provisions were made for states that have security

Gana said 75, 635 candidates sat for the examination on Saturday in 457 centers nationwide, including one center in Port Novo, Benin Republic.

He added that the results of the examination will be released on Wednesday by the agency through the ministry of education.