Prof. Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education, says more students enrol for the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) in the north-eastern part of the country as insurgency eases off.
He said 169 candidates at Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPs) in the region wrote the 2016 NCEE into unity colleges.
Anwukah spoke while monitoring the conduct of NCEE on Saturday in Abuja, noting that the total number of registered candidates for 2016 NCEE was 90, 786 with Lagos State having highest number of 25, 963 candidates.
He observed that Zamfara had the least with 103 candidates, insisting that the number of candidates from IDPs was impressive due to effective war against insurgency that liberated communities.
“Adamawa has 313 regular students; those in IDPs camps; 34, total for Adamawa is 347.
“Borno has 187 regular students; those in IDPs camps; 120, total for Borno is 307; Yobe has 387 regular students; those in IDPs camps; 15, total for Yobe is 402.
“Last year, Lagos had the highest registration with 25, 437; the lowest last year was Borno understandably with 35; the total number of candidates for last year examination was 86, 365.
“As the insurgency problem is easing off, more of our students are registering for NCEE and affording themselves the opportunity to enter Federal Government Colleges,’’ he said.
According to him, there is a remarkable increase in the number of students from Borno and Yobe in 2016 examination.
The minister said that in 2015, Borno had 35 candidates as against 387 in 2016 while, Yobe had 68 in 2015 as against 402 in 2016.
He said that available spaces for the candidates across the 104 unity schools in the country was 26, 000.
Anwukah said that improving the quality of teachers was the main concern of the Federal Ministry of Education as it worked towards producing the best qualified teachers for the students.
On his part, NECO’s Registrar, Prof. Abdulrasheed Garba, said that adequate security measures had been put in place in states having security challenges.
“The results are expected to be released by NECO to the Federal Ministry of Education on April 20 after which the ministry will direct NECO to make t public.
“Candidates are to check the status of their qualification for the interview test both at the various unity colleges and on-line via NECO website www.mynecoexams.com as soon as the release of results in announced.
“Candidates that quality after writing this examination will be invited for final selection interview coming up on a date to be announced after the release of this results,’’ he said.
He said that Computer Based Test (CBT) was the latest innovation in examinations across the world, adding that the council would migrate to CBT when adequate facilities were put in place.
NAN reports that Anwukah and Garba, including officials of the ministry and NECO, monitored the examination at Government Secondary School, Tudun Wada, Wuse Zone 4 and Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3.(NAN)