Please
refer to the statement dated 24/10/2017 issued by the Education Rights
Campaign, ACE Chapter, rejecting the #1,200 extra fees for POST UTME
screening charged by the ACE management and the response of the Provost of the
college thereafter. The Organization hereby clarifies the college management and
the entire college community the basis of the statement and our position.
Education
Rights Campaign, ERC, is a platform of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)
formed in 2004 to campaign for a free, functional, public-funded and
democratically-managed education sector. It is a non-profit, principled and
independent organization which has been in existence for more than a decade now
across campuses in Nigeria with an enviable track record and antecedence. As
such we can never be “teleguided” or “sponsored”.
On
the 23rd of October, 2017, the POST UTME screening candidates of the
institution received a notification on their private portals indicating they
have to pay a sum of One thousand naira (#1,000) for result verification before
proceeding to print their registration slips. The notification reads; “pay
1000.00NGN only for your result verification, before proceeding to print your
Exam slip”. ERC also noted that this is the only information provided by the
college management for the consumption of the general public.
Upon
receiving information from the candidates about this notification, the ERC took
pains to verify it by actually checking the portal of a number of the
candidates. If the information was found in the portal of just one or two candidates,
perhaps there could have been a reason to doubt its authenticity. But in each
of the portals of the several numbers of candidates we discussed with, we saw
the same message asking candidates to pay the sum of N1, 000 before proceeding to
print exam slip. So in every way, we sought “clarifications” and confirmed the
information before “hitting the button”.
It
was only after duly verifying the notification via candidates’ portal and
convinced that this would amount to charging candidates above the N2, 000
thresh-hold as mandated by JAMB that we issued the public statement. Needless
to stress, the aim of the public statement was not “a deliberate attempt to
tarnish the image of the Institution” but to call the attention of the
management to an issue that was bothering the minds of candidates and students.
In
this regard we wish to commend the Provost Olukoya Ogen (PhD) who personally
responded by E-mail to our statement concerning the subject matter. In his
response, the Provost explained the reasons for charging the N1000 fee which is
for the procurement of WAEC and NECO scratch cards in order to verify
candidate’s O’ Level certificates. Other details that emerged from the Provost
response also included the fact that candidates are free to buy their scratch
cards by themselves and submit this to the officials. Such candidates need not
pay the N1, 000 verification fee. Interestingly these very important details
were not included in the notification on the candidates’ portal. All that was in
the notification was the instruction that candidates should “pay 1000.00NGN
only for your result verification, before proceeding to print your Exam slip”.
We
recommend in future that the College management should endeavor to put out
detailed bulletin to avoid misinterpretation and confusion. If the notification
about the N1, 000 result verification fee had been communicated via a detailed
bulletin, most likely the facts of the matter would have been more explicit
than it is in the present case.
We
acknowledge the fact that college provost, Prof. Olukoya Ogen, clarified the
reasons for the #1,000 in response to the statement from ERC. However, we of
ERC believe that such a clarification should be made public so that the
candidates and the generality of the College community can be clarified. Again
we must stress that it is essential that the college management, at every point
in time, release clear and unambiguous notifications and information for the
consumption of the general public using all available media, including the
school website and circular.
We of ERC are not interested in
tarnishing the image of the College or of any person or group of persons We are
open-minded and ready to work with anyone that agrees with our manifesto in the
campaign for a free, functional, public-funded, and democratically-managed
education sector.
We are satisfied today that not only
did the statement draw the attention of the Provost to the issue; also we are
aware that the management has now asked candidates who can procure the scratch
cards by themselves to do so without having to pay the N1, 000 verification fee.
We hereby thank the College
management for having a listening ear. We shall continue to do our best in
contributing our quota to the progress and development of Adeyemi College of
Education (ACE) Ondo through positive criticism and advocacy on issues that
affects the rights of students and education workers.
Olotu Wole Prof.
ERC, ACE ONDO.
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