Private school owners in Ogun State have raised concerns that up to 700,000 students may miss the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in May/June if compliance challenges with new registration requirements are not addressed.
Proprietors of private secondary schools in the state said administrative difficulties with mandatory Learner Identification Number conditions for student registration have created obstacles ahead of the examination, which is organised by the West African Examinations Council.
The school owners, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that more than 70 per cent of students in private schools could be affected by the registration issues.
They said the problem stems from a requirement that students must have a Learner Identification Number before being registered for the examination.
According to the proprietors, the Learner Identification Number is usually issued by the state government when students are enrolled in schools, but the online platform used to generate the numbers has encountered problems.
They said some students who previously had valid numbers can no longer find their records on the system.
The proprietors also said that students who transferred from other states and did not have a Learner Identification Number were being required to produce additional documentation, including their Junior Secondary School certificates and term results from previous classes, before registration could proceed.
School owners described the time available to meet the new conditions as too short and said it may be “impractical” to fulfil all requirements before the registration deadline.
They appealed to Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene and asked that the policy be postponed or revised so that students can be registered in time for the examination.
One proprietor said the deadline extensions announced by WAEC had already been used up, and further delays could mean students miss the exam entirely.
Another proprietor warned that technical inconsistencies in the Learner Identification Number platform were preventing students from being validated for registration, and urged the government to reconsider the rigid requirements.
In response, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Abayomi Arigbabu, said the policy is intended to reduce examination malpractice by ensuring that all students have valid Learner Identification Numbers.
He acknowledged technical challenges but said the government will address genuine complaints without compromising efforts to sanitise the process.
