Special Report: Ogun school principal in alleged admission racketeering

The four flagship Grammar Schools in Yewa South LGA among other thirty-eight (38) in Ogun State were alleged to have been involved in admission manipulations of new entrants into the State secondary schools.

As a result, pupils, those from disadvantaged background in particular, have been allegedly deprived of their rights as they were said to be the victims of the organized examination practices cum manipulations during the State Common Entrance Examination and placement into the secondary schools.

atotoDaily reports that it’s a complex network of ‘stakeholders’ of vested interests comprise private hostel owners, corrupt teaching staff, education officers both at the LG and State, moneybag-parents and some proprietors of private primary schools.

Investigating the complexity, it was gathered that in 2022/2023 academic year, names of some pupils appeared on the portal of the Ministry but missed out on the School’s list.

The baseline was that private hostel owners within the School premises were said to aiding and abetting examination malpractices, in connivance with some wealthy parents, all in the name of securing students into their hostels. ‘They would ensure that such pupils get admission at all cost’.

Reason for the Despair

One of the Principals who spoke with atotoDaily said the Flagship schools have become government’s grooming centres for all brilliant pupils be it from among the elite, middle class or the underprivileged.

‘Flagship Schools are meant to produce the best for the State, maximizing the pupils’ inbuilt brilliance’, he said. ‘Moreso, it is an avenue for the less privileged but extremely clever ones to leverage on. Unfortunately, many of the rich parents of the poor pupils want it all.

‘In the case of those schools that have boarding facilities, there are more advantages for boarding students; school teachers have more time to attend to their academic and sporting needs.

‘Meanwhile when hostels outside the school compound get the students into their hostels, most of the added provisions by the government became useless. Ironically, the hostels’ landlords do pay taxes to government which automatically legitimise their investments”, he lamented.

Manipulation Technique

A source who craves anonymity disclosed that the using of classrooms for the conduct of the Common Entrance Examinations as directed by the State’s Ministry of Education had became an avenue for the stakeholders mentioned in paragraph three (3) and in some cases individuals who would take the advantage of the classrooms to get answers across to their ‘anointed’ pupils in the examination classrooms.

‘By the time the result was out, we found out that about 80% of the pupils who scored highest marks were dullard; most of them can’t even write alphabets. Unfortunately, the overall highest marks were been used as benchmark to set the cutoff marks.

‘The implication is that the genuine average (in comparison with the overall highest marks scored) pupils wouldn’t be able to get admission into the school’ , he clarified.

In her reaction, the Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Oluwatosin Oloko, said that there is no teaching staff that has access to tamper with the Ministry’s portal; to add or remove any names of pupils.

‘We do the placement of new entrants from the Ministry here.

‘And whether our teachers or Principals are allowed to run private schools or hostels, it doesn’t applied only to the education sector alone, it’s a general thing. Civil servants are allowed to participate in agriculture only”.

Suggestions

atotoDaily hereby proffers that for the Government to sustain its aim of setting aside the forty-two (42) flagship schools in Ogun State, its Common Entrance Examination must be strictly conducted.

For instance, instead of conducting the examination in the classrooms, it’s better done in the school hall; an open space where all eyes can be on the pupils and invigilating officers.

Reporters should be encouraged to cover the Common Entrance Examinations into Secondary Schools for total transparency and accountability.

The Ministry of Education should be encouraged to maintain its present transparency, accountability and impartiality.

Allegations against the Principal of Yewa College (Junior School)

When contacted about the allegation that she as the Principal of Yewa College Junior School has been manipulating the School’s admission list, Mrs Adenijo, said that the allegation cannot be true.

In her reaction, Mrs Adenijo said that, “the cutoff mark for each school is determined by the overall performance of candidates seeking admission into that school and the capacity of the school to absorb students.

“For example, in the 2023/2024 academic session, the cutoff mark for Yewa College Junior was 37 while that of Itolu Community High School, another flagship school in the same Ilaro was 30.

“Some parents would feel that if a candidate with a score of 30 could be granted admission to Itolu, their own wards with the same scores should be able to attend Yewa College.

“Then, again in that session, cutoff mark for Yewa College was first set at 41 based on the number of classrooms that were available.

“Thus candidates who scored below 41 but not below 30 could print letters of admission for Itolu Community High School Junior even if their choice of school was Yewa College Junior.

“However, when the school was able to secure more classrooms and we convinced the Honourable Commissioner that Yewa College Junior could take in more students, the cutoff mark was brought down to 37.

“Thus candidates who scored 37 to 40 could then print letters of admission for Yewa College. But because some of them had printed admission letters for Itolu Community High School Junior before the approval came from the ministry, they could no longer print letters for Yewa College Junior since they had been moved to Itolu portal.

“I think our parents need to be better educated about this process. Some parents are so uninformed that once their wards write the screening test, they simply go ahead to sew school uniforms without waiting for the results to come out.

“Some will not even come to the school to verify anything. They simply send the children to the school. Even when you send the children to them to come and find out what is happening, they refuse to come.

Meanwhile, “the issue we usually had in previous years is that we would first display the list of all candidates who wrote the screening test with their scores. The candidates were usually arranged according to their scores, from the highest to the lowest.

“A line would then be drawn below the name of the last candidate whose score fell within the cutoff mark for the school, indicating those candidates only who fell above the line qualified for admission into the school while those who fell below the line did not qualify.

“Some parents did not understand this, once they saw their wards’ names on the result sheet, they assumed that they had been granted admission.

“We usually had a tough time turning back students who would appear in school already dressed in the school uniform.

“However, the process has become better and easier now that students have to present letters of admission which have to be printed from the portal and which are available to only candidates who make the cutoff mark.

“Although some parents still do not fully understand the process, it is easier for the school to handle such cases. No admission letter, no registration”, the Principal explained.

Mrs Adenijo debunked the allegation that she owns a private hostel.

“I do not have a private hostel in Ilaro or anywhere else for that matter”.