Against govt policy, Lagos school imposes N3,500 fee on BECE candidates

Against the policy of the Lagos State Government, the management of a public secondary school in the state has imposed a mandatory levy of N3,500 on the candidates that took part in the 2022 diet of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The school, Randle Junior Secondary School, Pelewura Crescent, Apapa, which falls under the state’s education District IV, also allegedly charged N2,200 fee for tutorial classes.
Sources, however, confirmed that the tutorial classes were never held and that only a handful of the students paid.
Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the school headed by Ola-Hamzat Olugbile as principal illegally imposed the BECE fee on the students as a precondition for their participation in the examination.
Some of the parents and teachers of the school spoken to by this newspaper confirmed the development.
The principal, however, did not deny imposing the levy on the students, but insisted that “what you have is not the correct position of things.”
Entrance of Randle Junior Secondary School
Mr Ola-Hamzat and other officials of the school accused an unnamed individual of being behind “the release of secret documents to PREMIUM TIMES.”
But the spokesperson for the state’s ministry of education, Ganiu Lawal, told this newspaper that only private school candidates are charged fees for the examination but that “it is free for all state-owned schools’ candidates.”

Facts of extortion
Documents and other details obtained by this newspaper revealed that the school tasked each of the class teachers for the four classes of JSS 3A to 3D to request the students to pay the money to them.

According to one of the concerned students, who does not want to be named for fear of punishment, the N3,500 charges include N1,000 for BECE, N1,000 for practical, and N1,500 for the BECE results.
According to the student, though she couldn’t raise the N3,500 at once, they were permitted to pay in instalments.
She said each of the four arms of the class has more than 70 students. Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES confirmed this claim.
Another student, who claimed his father is a commercial driver in Apapa, said he was only able to pay N2,000 and did not know when he would be given the remaining N1,500 by the parents.
“I live with my grandmother because my parents are no more. The old woman is struggling to feed me and my siblings. So I am even afraid to tell her at home,” another student said.
The student said she had paid N1,500 sourced from her daily contributions and was only praying that she would be permitted to sit the examination.

But since she does not own a phone, our reporter was yet to confirm if she was permitted to sit the examination by the school management.
Parents confirm extortion
To avoid giving out their children and wards, PREMIUM TIMES would not give the identity of the parents spoken to in this report. But they all confirmed how much they have paid and for what purpose.

In a short telephone conversation, one of the parents, who sounded like someone in the marketplace, initially snapped at our reporter, as she mistook him for a teacher in the school.
She said one of the teachers had been calling her to request the payment and that she had pledged to pay soon.
“Yes, I have paid for the BECE examination, I gave my child N2,000 first, then a balance of N1,500,” the mother said on the phone.
Another parent, a commercial tricycle rider, said he already paid N3,000. “I paid it at once.”
Tutorial fee
Meanwhile, this newspaper also learnt that the school had earlier imposed a N2,200 tutorial fee on the students.
But findings by this newspaper showed that the tutorial classes were never held and that only a few of the students paid the N2,200 charge.
Randle Junior Secondary School students during an extracurricular activity
For those who paid the fees for the tutorial, a total of N5,700 was calculated for them by the school.
Based on the documents obtained by the newspaper and the calculation done by the reporter, the school may have generated as much as N800,000.
Principal denies
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the school, the principal, Mr Ola-Hamzat, denied collecting money from the students and admitted that the examination is free for them.
“It is far from the truth. The examination is free for the students. Are you around, do you want to see me face-to-face? There is nothing like that. I would like to see you face-to-say. Just come to the school, let’s see so that you will be able to get the truth,” he said.
But when confronted with the facts of the payments, the principal said he would not speak on the phone.

Meanwhile, shortly after speaking with the principal, a man who identified himself simply as a unionist in the school threatened to deal with the reporter if the story is ever published.

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Findings by PREMIUM TIMES revealed the identity of the caller as Joseph Soremekun, who currently serves as the chairperson of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Surulere Local Government Area.
Sources confirmed that he works with a public primary school in the local government.
He said: “I heard you are about to publish false news. Go ahead and do it and you will know that there is a law in the country that guides against “blasphemy.” I wish you the best. You will see the power of the union in action,” he threatened.
Principal, others meet reporter
Meanwhile, on a recent visit to the school, PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter was engaged by the principal, two deputies, who were identified simply as Mrs Ogunye and Mr Sofowora in charge of both administrative and academic duties respectively.
Also in attendance at the meeting were the chairpersons of the Apapa branch of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPS), Messrs Oyetakin O and Ibitoye J, respectively.
Though the principal insisted the documents were fake, Mrs Ogunye said the school was aware of “the person” behind the matter.
According to Mrs Ogunye, the alleged suspect behind the revelation, which she refused to name, decided to spill the beans “because the person was transferred from the school.”
She said: “It is a setup. The person that sent the document to you is known. He sent the document because he was transferred from this school to another school and it did not go down well with him. If he doesn’t want to go, does that mean that he should drag everybody to the mud?
“He is looking for trouble everywhere. He is a well-known person”.
On his part, the NUT chair said he was aware of the development and that he was involved in resolving it.
He said: “This is the first time we are having such a situation in Apapa but we thank God that everything has been resolved. The complainant himself has apologised. There is no way the tongue and the mouth would not fight but they must settle.
“There was no need for the unnecessary allegations to implicate his colleagues. As a people there must be dispute but as a leader and crisis manager we must find a way to settle it, which we have done”.
No to payment – Govt
Speaking in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Lawal, a deputy director of press at the state’s ministry of education, said BECE is free for all the students of state-owned schools.
He, however, noted that private schools that register candidates for the examinations are expected to pay. But he did not mention the amount the state charges the private candidates.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that BECE is free for our students. That is not new,” Mr Lawal said.
Also, in 2019, in a clarification made by the then permanent secretary at the ministry, Adebunmi Adekanye, the government said no state-owned school candidate should pay for either BECE or the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Mrs Adekanye, now retired, in the report posted on the state’s official website, warned public officials to desist from extorting money from parents under various guises including requesting payment for practical examinations.
She had threatened that anyone caught will face the consequences of their action.
“The gesture is to relieve parents of the burden of such fees as well as create equal opportunities for all qualified students to assess the examinations and prove their mettle, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth or the financial position of their parents,” Mrs Adekanye said.
About BECE
BECE is the main examination that qualifies students in public junior secondary schools in Lagos State for admission into senior secondary schools.
The examination is written after three years of junior secondary school education.
For 2022, the examination started on 8 June and ended on 15 June.

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