Cross River State Commissioner for Education, Dr Stephen Odey, has declared that 31 school principals out 37 who were sent to face disciplinary committee were actually indicted, stressing that only 6 were exonerated.
Recall that the Cross River State Executive Council approves the payment of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fees for 16, 301 indigenes of public schools in the state.
Tribune online reported that to ameliorate the hardship of this present economic situation, the state government offsets the payment with N440,127,000 (Four Hundred and Forty Million, One Hundred and Twenty-seven Thousand Naira) being for students writing the Senior Secondary School Certificate.
There was a stern warning from the Governor, Prince Bassey Otu, against any untoward practice such as padding by school authorities of the list of beneficiaries.
However, Odey said there were schools across the state that ignored instructions to provide only the names of indigene students to the Director of Examinations and Certificates in the State’s Ministry of Education.
Odey revealed during a press briefing at his office on Tuesday that some principals submitted both names of indigenes and non-indigenes. Again, 64 names out of 16,301 were duplicates, bringing the total number of verified candidates to 16,237.
“Recommendations were made by the disciplinary committee that those principals found culpable should be relieved of their duties/appointments, while some will be demoted to classroom teachers, he said.
On teachers’ employment, Odey also noted that there is a dire need for teachers disclosing that he has proposed to the governor for immediate employment of 6,000 teachers in secondary schools.
“I have written to the governor for the promotion of teachers. Governor should grant us approval to employ 6,000 teachers and we have also written to the governor to release funds from 2024 budget so that we can start implementing some projects in schools. We stand to reform the state education sector holistically,” he said.
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