The National Examination Council, NECO, has disclosed that it is now compulsory for all examination officials to swear an oath of allegiance before participating in its forthcoming examinations.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the examination body, Prof. Godswill Obioma disclosed this during a press briefing to unveil the examination time table for the conduct of the 2020 examination.
The exam body said before the exams, the officials would be trained to build their capacities for the task
The Registrar explained that to ensure the safety of candidates and officials, NECO has prepared a Manual Guideline for the preparation of schools in the context of COVID-19 and in harmonization with WAEC and NABTEB.
He said the guidelines cover critical areas such as decontamination of centers and schools, maintaining social distancing, use of water, hand washing facilities, sanitizers and face mask by school proprietors, parents and guardians, exam officials, candidates and security officials among others.
Prof. Obioma revealed that currently, a total of 80,110 candidates have registered for the Common Entrance exams, 104,341 for BECE, and 169,144 for SSEC
According to him, the scheduled exams include the NECO-BECE from 24th August to Monday 7th September, NECO-SSCE Monday 5th October to Wednesday 18th Nov, 2020 and NECO-NCEE for admission of JSS1 students into Federal Unity Colleges, Saturday 17th October 2020 and also, the BECE (re-sit) for 11th and 12th of Nov. for the prescribed relevant subjects.
Obioma further reiterated NECO’s zero-tolerance to examination malpractice, saying” we will not hesitate to close down any exam centre involved in malpractice and moving the students to another center. ”
He then called on parents to register their wards within the timeline given as there would be.