1 47 private schools registered in Ebonyi State for alleged examination malpractices are to pay the sum of N250,000 each to West African Examination Council (WAEC). The private schools, alongside some public schools in the state, were deregistered last year by the examination body for alleged malpractices.

The schools were fined N500,000 each by the body for the offences. However, the state government has paid the sum of N50million for public schools involved in the practice, remaining a balance of 48 Million out of the N98million fine slammed on the public schools by the WAEC.

The examination body also imposed N500,000 on the 147 private schools it accused of malpractices. But WAEC has waved the N48million for public schools that were accused of the practice following a plea by the state government and slashed that of private schools caught in the act by the examination body to N250,000 each.

The state Commissioner for Education, Dr. Sunday Nwangele disclosed this to journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital. He warned that any principal, whose school is found encouraging examination malpractice henceforth, will be dismissed immediately without fair hearing.

“Should any school be caught in examination malpractice, the principal will go for it. As a matter of fact, it was agreed at a meeting with all principals that if there is any case of examination malpractice in any school the principal will be sacked even without fair hearing. “So, it is as serious as that. This is a demonstration of the displeasure of the government of Ebonyi State towards examination malpractices