The Federal Government has blamed some state governments for the low enrollment in the ongoing National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) certificate examination.
A total of 54,000 candidates are sitting the 2023 NABTEB examination nationwide, a sharp decline in enrollment from 88,000 candidates registered for the examination in 2022.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew David Adejo, who monitored the conduct of the examination at the Government Science Technical College, Garki, in Abuja on Tuesday, lamented that some state governments were not doing much to encourage their children to enrol for the examination.
He noted that some states of the Federation were not participating in the exercise because their governors refused to honour their obligations by paying their indebtedness to the Board, noting that after agreeing to register their candidates they would renege on the payment agreement.
Adejo said this time around NABTEB refused to allow such states to register their indigenes for the examination without payment.
He said: “I want to plead with the state governments because some of them have disadvantaged their citizens from this opportunity.
They agreed to register students for the exams and they don’t pay the fees, so many states are not allowed to write the exams this year.
“NABTEB has to take that decision because previously, they’ve been allowing students to take the exams but because the debt is growing, so they have to withdraw the students from taking the exams,” he said.
Adejo urged the state governors to be committed to paying for registered students while expressing hope that with the new sets of governors, there would be a remarkable change in payment for the examinations.
While expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the examination, the permanent secretary, said though the examination started late as a result of the early downpour, it was a success.
“Today we’ve come to monitor the English language of the NABTEB examination. From what we see the exams started a little bit late and it is understandable because there was rain and the weather was not conducive but five minutes lateness is not too bad.
“Students were on the ground but for some reason, examiners could not be here to start at 9 a.m., but in all, I am satisfied with the conduct of the exams,” he said.
Speaking on improvement in technical education, he said that the country must continue to embrace technical education as a means to guarantee the future of the youths.
He charged parents and other stakeholders to let children get informed that the world had moved from white-collar jobs to skills.
He said that the ministry had done a lot in ensuring that at the tertiary education level, opportunities had been provided for technologically focused innovation and entrepreneurship.
Also Speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of NABTEB, Professor Ifeoma Abanihe, said that enrollment for the 2023 examinations came low to 54,000 as against 88,000 in 2022.
Abanihe said this low enrollment was due to the inability of some state governors to pay for the examination of their students and was faced with the option of removing them from the 2023 examinations.
“The exams started last Monday, and this week is for compulsory general education subjects.
“The total enrollment this year is 54,000 because some states owe us and we refuse the credit which brought the number a little lower.
“This shows that we need to do more and encourage technical education. We need more candidates because that is where you get the skills that equip you for life,” she said.
She commended the present administration for introducing students loan while also clamouring for the introduction of scholarships for technical education students, saying this would encourage more students to go into technical education.
Tribune
