Abia Education Boards Deny Extortion Allegations During School Examinations
Abia’s Examination Development Centre (EDC) and Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) deny allegations of extortion during school exams, clarifying that monitoring teams neither demand money nor supervise private schools.
The Examination Development Centre (EDC) and the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) in Abia State have denied allegations that their monitoring teams extort money from schools during examinations.
Reacting to the claims, Ucheoma Kanu, Director of the Examination Development Centre in Umuahia, stressed that schools are not mandated to give money to monitoring officers.
“Even if ten different teams visit your school, your responsibility as a school is simply to allow them to do their jobs and leave. Nobody is to be given anything,” Kanu said.
In the same vein, the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) rejected suggestions that its officers storm private schools to demand settlements. In a statement signed by its Head of Information and Public Relations, D. N. Onuoha, on behalf of Director Ngozi Ugo Onwubiko, the agency clarified its operational boundaries.
“Our mandate is strictly to oversee public secondary schools under the state government. We do not go to private schools, not even during examinations. Any insinuation to the contrary is false and misleading,” the statement read.
SEMB also dismissed allegations that its monitoring officers arrive in tricycles, insisting that the board’s official teams operate only with designated vehicles.
The clarifications followed widespread reports alleging that multiple monitoring groups from the Ministry of Education, SEMB, local government education authorities, and other agencies had been invading schools, especially private ones, during examinations. The allegations claimed that some teams disrupted exam sessions, demanding money from school authorities.
According to reports, as many as four different teams could visit a single school in one day, sometimes entering examination halls and requesting “settlements.”
Both EDC and SEMB described the allegations as unfounded, urging school administrators and the public to disregard them and allow monitoring teams to carry out their legitimate oversight functions without fear.
