Shortage of examination materials and late arrival of supervisors have marred the conduct of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Misau Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
Conducted by the Bauchi State Ministry of Education, BECE is a prerequisite for all junior secondary school 3 students preparing for the senior secondary classes across public and private schools.
But the scarcity of materials such as answer sheets and question papers delayed the examination in some centres in Misau town.
A furious examination officer who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak told WikkiTimes that despite payments of examination fees which include provision of materials, the ministry failed to provide enough answer sheets.
“Instead they were told to buy sheets of papers for the students,” he said.
“Today (Thursday) the cluster supervisor came without any answer booklets, he told us that this is what he was given and we have to buy papers that our students will use to write the examination,” the teacher added.
When WikkiTimes visited major examination centres in Misau town, we observed that examinations were delayed beyond the scheduled time (9:00am), as students were seen stranded due to late arrival of examination materials.
In Mangari Primary School, examinations were delayed until 11am, a situation which generated uproar between examination officers and cluster supervisors sent by the ministry.

“We waited for a long time but they didn’t bring materials on time. At the end our students have to write the essay in the question paper they provided as we can’t buy any extra papers…,” another teacher said in confidence.
In Sabongari Primary School centre, students were seen writing the examination on their question papers instead of the answer sheets.
However, in Central Primary School (Sarki Ahmadu) Misau centre, examination officers improvised papers to enable their students take the exams.
“We can’t wait for them till … to bring answer sheets, we have no alternative than to buy exercise books, divide it into pieces and share them to the students,” a teacher who simply identified himself as Adamu said.
“Ministry Will Sanction Culprits”
A top officer in the ministry of education who preferred not to be mentioned told WikkiTimes that all those involved in the delay of the examination would be sanctioned by the ministry after the examination.
He acknowledged the custodian of Misau local government had reported the matter to the ministry.
“What happened is that the answer sheets were packed and ready for distribution to all the LGAs but that of Misau was not picked up,” he said. “We, after realizing that it is here, quickly sent it. The custodian should have contacted us and we would have asked him to delay the exams until the materials arrived.”
According to him, this is the first time the ministry is producing the question papers and answer sheets internally without involving private firms, saying that all the challenges have been noted and will be effected in the subsequent examinations.
“We have identified some places where there’s an issue of delay in the commencement of the examination which is as a result of negligence on the part of cluster supervisors, we will definitely punish them. We have enough examination materials printed here in the ministry, but we are on top of the situation,” he added.
WikkiTimes is privy that the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) Bauchi State Chapter has written to the ministry expressing concern over the incident calling for a thorough investigation into the matter.
This investigation is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) and funded by MacArthur Foundation